For many years, President Donald Trump has asserted his lack of knowledge regarding Jeffrey Epstein’s activities. However, a former Palm Beach police chief has stated that Trump informed him two decades ago that “everyone” was aware of Epstein’s actions.

This disclosure originated from an FBI interview record with former Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter, conducted in October 2019. The record was part of the latest batch of “Epstein files” released by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Reiter informed the FBI that Trump contacted him in July 2006, at the time of Epstein’s initial arrest on a state charge for soliciting prostitution. During this call, Trump reportedly conveyed that Epstein’s offenses involving the abuse of young girls were widely recognized among high society in Florida and New York.

According to Reiter, Trump remarked, “Thank goodness you’re stopping him, everyone has known he’s been doing this.”

Despite resigning as police chief in 2009, Reiter oversaw the precinct during the local investigations into Epstein’s sex crimes throughout the 2000s. He recounted this particular conversation during a 2019 interview with the FBI.

The Miami Herald was the initial outlet to report on the document summarizing the interview.

Reiter further disclosed that in 2006, Trump described Ghislaine Maxwell, later convicted for her complicity in Epstein’s crimes, as Epstein’s “operative” and characterized her as “evil.”

The report of Reiter’s statement indicates that “Trump told him people in New York knew Epstein was disgusting. Trump said Maxwell was Epstein’s operative, ‘she is evil and to focus on her.’”

The summary further asserts that during the 2006 phone call, “Trump told [Reiter] that he was around Epstein once when teenagers were present and Trump got the hell out of there,” and that he “threw Epstein out of his club.”

While Reiter’s name was redacted from the FBI file, the document identified the interviewee as the individual serving as Palm Beach’s police chief during the 2006 Epstein investigation—a role held by Reiter.

‘No idea. I had no idea’

Following that conversation, Trump consistently stated over the years that he possessed no information regarding Epstein’s sex crimes. He has also asserted that he expelled Epstein from Mar-a-Lago upon discovering the financier was recruiting spa club employees.

When questioned by reporters in the Oval Office in July 2019 about any suspicions regarding Epstein “molesting … underaged women,” Trump replied, “No, I had no idea. I had no idea. I haven’t spoken to him in many, many years.”

In subsequent years, Trump has been less transparent about his sentiments towards Maxwell. In October 2020, when asked about his feelings towards her while she faced federal charges for assisting Epstein in recruiting, grooming, and sexually abusing young girls, Trump stated, “I just wish her well, frankly.”

Even as the scandal resurfaced in 2025, Trump has consistently declined to dismiss the possibility of pardoning Maxwell, informing reporters last October that “he’d have to take a look at it.”

Last July, Todd Blanche, Trump’s Deputy Attorney General, conducted a recorded two-day interview with Maxwell concerning the Epstein case while she was incarcerated. Shortly thereafter, Maxwell was transferred to a minimum-security facility typically designated for individuals convicted of financial offenses. This relocation prompted criticism from who, in an August letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, contended that moving Maxwell raised “substantial concerns that the Administration may now be attempting to tamper with a crucial witness.”

Throughout 2025 and early 2026, the DOJ released tens of thousands of Epstein’s emails and documents pertaining to the numerous law enforcement inquiries into the disgraced financier. These files have generated significant impact in the .

Responding to emails disclosed by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee in November, the White House stated, “The fact remains that President Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club decades ago for being a creep to his female employees.” Conversely, one of the leaked emails contained Epstein’s assertion that Trump “knew about the girls.”

Upon being approached for comment, the White House directed TIME to the DOJ. A DOJ official informed TIME that they had no knowledge of any evidence corroborating the President’s contact with law enforcement two decades prior.

This newly revealed report emerges as Maxwell invoked her Fifth Amendment right during a deposition before the House Oversight Committee on Monday. However, she subsequently asserted that she would exonerate Trump if granted by the President.