US President Donald Trump and late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein shared a close relationship, with the latter calling Trump his “best friend”, according to a New York Times investigation published on Thursday. Epstein, a convicted sex offender, died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking of underage girls. He held close associations with several influential people, including business tycoons and celebrities. In November, Democrats released emails that suggested Trump was aware of the financier’s sexual abuse and definitely “knew about the girls.” According to the NYT , while Trump was not found implicated in Epstein’s abuse and trafficking of minors, it appeared that the two men’s relationship was “far closer” than what the US president maintains. “Beginning in the late 1980s, the two men forged a bond intense enough to leave others who knew them with the impression that they were each other‘s closest friend,” NYT reported, with Epstein reported to have claimed that he was Trump’s “closest friend for 10 years”. This undated photo from the personal collection of Jeffrey Epstein provided by the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on December 12, 2025, shows US President Donald Trump (L), flanked by Epstein (C), talking to an unknown woman. — AFP NYT found that the two shared a distinct relationship, with the common interest of “pursuing women”. “With other men, Epstein might discuss tax shelters, international affairs or neuroscience. With Trump, he talked about sex,” the report said, citing accounts of former employees. The investigation detailed that throughout the 1990s, Epstein was Trump’s “most reliable wingman”. It said that the two often “visited each other’s offices and spoke often by phone,” citing interviews with former employees of Epstein. According to NYT , Epstein’s partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, introduced six women to Trump, one of whom was a minor; however, none of the women accused the US president of inappropriate behaviour. According to an email released by Congress, the NYT found that Epstein once “boasted” that he “gave” Trump a 20-year-old woman. In another instance, an Epstein employee from that era told the NYT that Trump would “occasionally send over modelling cards for Epstein to peruse, like a menu”. The report also detailed that Epstein’s former assistant kept “daily handwritten notes” with instructions to either call Trump or return his call, indicating his regular presence in Epstein’s life. The NYT found that in November 1993, at a beauty pageant press luncheon attended by Trump, a contestant, Beatrice Keul, alleged that Trump “groped” her and forced himself on her during a private meeting. Before the meeting, she recalled that she was approached by Epstein, who told her, “I’m Jeffrey. I’m Don’s best friend.” Epstein was not affiliated with the pageant, Keul said. “He said, ‘Don likes you very much,’ and that they were organising parties at Mar-a-Lago and he would love me to join,” NYT quoted Keul as saying. This undated photo from the personal collection of Jeffrey Epstein provided by the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on December 12, 2025, shows US President Donald Trump (C) posing with a group of women wearing Hawaiian-style leis. — AFP She alleged that Epstein pushed her and went on about “wealth he kept in Swiss banks, then about famous friends with whom he could arrange meetings,“ adding that this “hunting method” was routine. In another instance, a woman who had attended several parties at Epstein’s mansion recalled that Trump was a “household name, someone Epstein often bragged about to the women around him, yet also seemed to compete with”. “It was like a pissing contest — who had the most women,” the NYT quoted her as saying. However, the two men’s relationship “soured” after allegations appeared against Epstein around the mid-2000s, the report said, beginning with a Page Six item in The New York Post. This undated photo from the personal collection of Jeffrey Epstein provided by the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on December 12, 2025, shows US President Donald Trump posing with a woman whose face has been redacted. — AFP The report mentioned Virginia Giuffre, who was at the centre of Epstein’s removal from the Mar-a-Lago club. Giuffre, then 18, was a masseuse at Trump’s exclusive club. After she went public with her allegations, Epstein wrote to Maxwell that Trump had not received more attention in the case, considering that “he spent hours at my house” with Giuffre. However, Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, maintained that “Trump had never had sex with her, and that she couldn’t remember seeing him in Epstein’s homes,” the NYT said. NYT found that Epstein “resented Trump’s efforts to distance himself,” according to his emails. On November 13, Congressional Democrats released 19 new images from the estate of the late Epstein, which included photos of now-President Trump. In one black-and-white photo, Trump was seen smiling with several women — whose faces are redacted — on each side of him. A second image shows Trump standing beside Epstein, and a third, less-clear image shows him seated alongside another woman, whose face is also redacted, with his red tie loosened. It was not clear when or where the photos were taken. “Everybody knew this man,” Trump told reporters at the White House when asked about the photos. “He was all over Palm Beach. He has photos with everybody. I mean, almost — there are hundreds and hundreds of people that have photos with him. So that’s no big deal.” Previously, Trump has denied any involvement in or knowledge of the sex-trafficking activities of his former friend. On November 20, in a stunning move, Trump signed into law legislation requiring the release of government records on Epstein.