Child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein tried to dig up dirt on President Trump in a desperate bid for leniency in the days leading up to his suicide, but was unable to deliver anything of substance, according to a report.
Epstein became fixated on the president after he was arrested in 2019, as his lawyers tried to hammer out a deal with prosecutors if the disgraced financier could provide helpful information about other defendants, according to the New York Times.
During his many marathon meetings with his parade of lawyers while he was locked up in a federal jail in Lower Manhattan, Epstein often had his nose buried in a legal pad scrawling disjointed one-liners about the commander-in-chief, such as “Trump is a total con artist — smoke & mirrors” and “Never had money.”
Jeffrey Epstein became fixated on trying to hand over incriminating evidence against President Trump in a desperate bid for leniency — but failed to deliver anything of substance, according to the New York Times. Getty Images
People view a timeline of Trump’s relationship with Epstein at “The Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room” on the exhibit’s opening day in Washington, DC, on June 9, 2026. JIM LO SCALZO/EPA/Shutterstock
Donald Trump poses with unidentified women in this handout image from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein, released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee in Washington, DC, on Dec. 12, 2025. via REUTERSThe deranged scribblings suggest that Epstein had nothing on Trump, who was serving his first term in office at the time.
His scribblings also included grousing about the difficulties he endured as a wealthy “Pedophile in jail,” which he claimed included being denied phone calls and visits, according to the outlet.
He complained it was “impossible to mount a defense” with the continuous noise emanating from the Special Housing Unit at the now-shuttered Metropolitan Correctional Center where he was confined.
Epstein alleged in his jottings that the guards would have turned a blind eye to any acts of violence against him, even telling his cellmate — convicted murderer and ex-New York cop Nicholas Tartaglione — “if he beat the s–t out of me, they wouldn’t file a report.”
This undated, redacted photo released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee shows Donald Trump with an unidentified woman. AP
This undated photo from the personal collection of Jeffrey Epstein, provided by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Dec. 12, 2025, shows Donald Trump (left), flanked by Epstein (center), talking to an unknown woman. House Oversight Democrats/AFP via Getty ImagesEpstein was found dead in his cell on Aug. 19, 2019. The floor was littered with nooses and noose-making materials, the Times reported.
Trump and Epstein were friendly during the 1980s and 1990s. Subpoenaed flight logs from the disgraced financier’s private jet confirmed the future president flew on his aircraft at least seven times between 1993 and 1997, though never to his notorious private Caribbean island.
The two had a falling out over a real estate transaction dispute in 2004, and Trump soon thereafter claimed he banished Epstein from Mar-a-Lago because he was “poaching” young women who worked at the resort.
After Epstein’s 2019 arrest on federal charges, Trump said he hadn’t spoken to him in 15 years, adding he was “not a fan.”
