Jeffrey Epstein 'showed photos of Donald Trump with topless women sitting on knee', author claims

Jeffrey Epstein showed off photos of Donald Trump with "topless young women" sitting on his lap, an author has alleged.

Jeffrey Epstein showed off photos of Donald Trump with "topless young women" sitting on his lap, an American author has alleged.

Michael Wolff has claimed that Prince Andrew's paedophile pal once showed him pictures of the former president with the females. The writer made the claims on his podcast Fire & Fury on Thursday, sayingEpstein possessed about half a dozen photos showing Trump by a pool with young women, allegedly taken in the "late '90s." The pictures were allegedly taken at the Wall Street financier's Palm Beach, Florida home.

According to Wolff, Epstein stored these photos in a safe, which the FBI seized during a July 2019 raid on his properties. While prosecutors confirmed at the time that the raid uncovered "hundreds of photos of girls and young women," no details about the contents of the photos have been made public. Wolff alleges that some of these images featured Trump "sitting around the pool with these young girls, and the young girls are topless," with several photos showing the women sitting in Trump's lap.

"There's one I especially remember," Wolff said on his podcast, "where there's a stain, a telltale stain on the front of Trump's pants, and the girls are pointing at him and laughing." Trump had separated from his second wife, Marla Maples, in 1997 and began dating his third wife, Melania, in 1998. The Republican presidential nominee's campaign quickly rejected Wolff's allegations, with a spokesperson labelling the author a "disgraced writer" and accusing him of fabricating lies for publicity.

"Michael Wolff is a disgraced writer who routinely fabricates lies in order to sell fiction books," the campaign said. The spokesperson accused Wolff of "blatant election interference on behalf of Kamala Harris" just days before Tuesday's election. The Trump camp highlighted how the former president distanced himself from Epstein after learning of allegations against him.

In a 2019 interview, Trump said, "I was not a fan of Jeffrey Epstein. And you watched people yesterday saying that I threw him out of a club. I didn't want anything to do with him. That was many, many years ago. Before then, however, Trump had been friends with Epstein. "I've known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy," he told New York magazine in 2002.

"He's a lot of fun to be with," Trump said then. "It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side." In November 1992, the two men were filmed socialising at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, pointing out women on the dance floor. Trump is seen gesturing to one woman and appeared to say to Epstein, "Look at her, back there. … She's hot."

The Wall Street financier reacted with a grin and a nod. Trump then said something into Epstein's ear that caused him to double over with laughter. The former US leader was also photographed with the financier at an event at his Mar-a-Lago home in 2000, along with future first lady Melania Knauss and Ghislane Maxwell. In Fire & Fury , Wolff's bestselling 2018 book about the Trump White House, he revealed that Epstein was a key source, providing him with insight into the inner workings of Trump's world.

Wolff claimed he has around 100 hours of taped conversations with Epstein, some of which discuss Trump. He played a snippet of one such conversation on his podcast. He also suggested that the convicted sex offender was fearful of Trump, claiming that Epstein had predicted his 2016 victory and expressed fear about the former president's potential behaviour.

"I couldn't help but feeling that there was a level of personal fear there," Wolff said. Reflecting on Epstein's remarks, Wolff said, "Epstein would emphasise how he believed Trump was capable of doing anything. He had no scruples." Wolff's claims come amid renewed allegations against Trump from a former Miss Switzerland, who accused him of groping her.

The writer hinted that he felt compelled to release Epstein's commentary in light of the accusations. He cited his longstanding interactions with the financier, who was still active on the social scene in New York and Florida in 2017. Epstein's death in federal custody in August 2019, officially ruled a suicide, has sparked widespread conspiracy theories.