A newly disclosed FBI document provides rare insight into a 2006 phone call between Donald Trump and West Palm Beach police leadership, showing Trump strongly backing law enforcement efforts against Jeffrey Epstein years before Epstein’s crimes became a national scandal. The Florida police chief said Trump was one of the first calls he had received warning law enforcement about the potential predator.
“Thank goodness you’re stopping him, everyone has known he’s been doing this,” Trump was quoted as telling then–Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter during the call. Trump also told the chief that he “got the hell out of there” on one occasion when he was around Epstein while teenagers were present. According to a summary of an October 2019 FBI interview, Trump was among the very first people to reach out once word spread that authorities were investigating Epstein for s-x—ly abusing underage girls — some reportedly as young as 14 — who had been hired to give him massages.
Epstein Files reveal that Jeffrey Epstein purchased 330 gallons of sulfuric acid in 2018. pic.twitter.com/98vdOi729N
— Globe Eye News (@GlobeEyeNews) February 9, 2026
During the same conversation, Trump urged investigators to look beyond Epstein himself. Investigators recorded that Trump referred to Ghislaine Maxwell as Epstein’s operative, warning police that “she is evil” and telling them to focus their attention on her role. The warning, documented verbatim, came more than a decade before Maxwell’s later conviction.
The interview summary notes that while Reiter’s name was redacted in the document, the details provided match publicly known information about his tenure and involvement in the Epstein probe. Reiter served as Palm Beach’s top law enforcement official from 2001 to 2009 and played a central role in the early investigation.
According to Reiter’s account, when he initially asked around about Epstein, he was told the financier was someone who “supports law enforcement” and was considered an important and influential figure in the community. Reiter said that despite that reputation, reports about Epstein began reaching the Palm Beach Police Department in the early 2000s, possibly as early as 2003.
🚨‼️Senator Hollen:
When you visited Epstein's island, did you see anything inappropriate?
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick: "The only thing I saw… was employees working for Mr. Epstein on that island." pic.twitter.com/QOncPEkZNj
— MOSCOW NEWS 🇷🇺 (@MOSCOW_EN) February 10, 2026
As complaints mounted, Reiter said his officers built an extensive case file against Epstein. The investigation grew to include not only allegations against Epstein himself but also s-x–l battery cases involving alleged co-conspirators. The scope of the case, according to Reiter, was significant and detailed.
However, Chief Reiter told federal investigators that the case ultimately stalled at the state level. He recalled that state prosecutors dismissed the allegations, claiming the victims lacked credibility. Reiter said prosecutors pointed to the girls’ MySpace pages and focused on minor inconsistencies, disputing small details in the probable cause affidavit. As a result, Reiter said, the case collapsed before it could move forward in state court.
The FBI interview summary was included among millions of documents released by the Justice Department in connection with the Jeffrey Epstein case. Epstein ultimately pleaded guilty in 2008 to Florida charges of soliciting a minor for s-x under a highly controversial non-prosecution agreement. That deal allowed him to serve just 13 months in jail, much of it on work release, a resolution that has since drawn intense criticism.
The newly revealed FBI document underscores the contrast between Trump’s early reaction and the later handling of the case by prosecutors. Investigators noted that Trump did not attempt to minimize allegations or shield Epstein. Instead, he initiated contact with police, praised their intervention, and encouraged scrutiny of both Epstein and Maxwell.
As more Epstein-related records continue to surface, the FBI memo adds important detail to the timeline of who responded — and how — when authorities first began investigating Epstein’s abuse of minors. Trump’s documented statements appear to place him firmly on the side of law enforcement at a critical early stage, years before the case became a national scandal.
