Trump abruptly ended a phone interview with a CNN reporter on Wednesday after being pressed about newly surfaced photographs showing Jeffrey Epstein at Mar-a-Lago alongside Trump’s young children, including Ivanka, and also the pedophile at Trump’s second marriage.
The images, which began circulating online early this week, appear to date back to the early 1990s and show Epstein smiling with Trump at the Palm Beach estate, with Ivanka, who appears to be around 12 years old, seen in the background. Other children, believed to be friends of the Trump family, are also present.
The photos have reignited scrutiny of Trump’s long-documented friendship with Epstein, the late financier and convicted sex offender. While Trump has repeatedly claimed he cut ties with Epstein “long before” his 2008 conviction, critics and reporters have pointed to numerous appearances together spanning more than a decade.
According to a CNN source familiar with the call, Trump became increasingly combative as the reporter questioned him about the new images and asked whether he believed it was appropriate to have hosted Epstein at events where children were present. Trump reportedly lashed out, calling the question “disgusting,” before abruptly hanging up.
The reporter put it this way:
‘We were not on the phone very long,’ he said. ‘I think our call was about 30 seconds or so.’
‘When I asked him about the wedding photo… he sort of paused for a second and then said, ‘you’ve got to be kidding me,’ before calling CNN ‘fake news’ and then hanging up on me,’ the journalist recalled of Trump shutting down the conversation.
The Trump campaign has not issued a formal statement about the photos, though his supporters quickly accused CNN of pushing “old smears” and engaging in a “witch hunt.”
Legal experts say the re-emergence of these photos could raise further questions in ongoing civil lawsuits related to Epstein’s network of abuse, especially as depositions and witness testimony continue to reference high-profile individuals once linked to him.
Meanwhile, critics on both sides of the aisle are calling for transparency. “This isn’t about politics—this is about who had access to a convicted predator and how deeply that access ran,” said one former federal prosecutor.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein and maintains he never visited Epstein’s private island or properties in the Virgin Islands. However, multiple flight logs and witness accounts have placed both men together numerous times over the years.
Ivanka Trump has not commented on the photos, and it remains unclear whether investigators have contacted her or any other Trump family members as new evidence continues to emerge in the Epstein case.