AAP FACTCHECK – The recently released documents from the case of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein reveal allegations that former US president Donald Trump raped minors, some social media users claim.
This is false. There is no such allegation in the Epstein documents released in 2024.
A July post on Threads reads: “BREAKING NEWS: The newly unsealed Epstein documents have led to a significant backlash against Donald Trump among his supporters. The documents detail graphic allegations, including that Trump raped minors at Epstein’s New York townhouse and engaged in abusive behavior.”
The post goes on to allege: “These revelations have caused a wave of disillusionment and abandonment among Trump’s base”.
Similar claims about Trump and the Epstein files have been made on Facebook.
The documents referred to – 176 pages of transcripts released to the public in early July from a 2006 Florida prosecution of Epstein – do not mention Trump at all, a read-through of the transcript available online shows.
There are a number of redacted words but there’s no suggestion Trump’s name is among them.
Epstein was accused of trafficking underage girls. He died in August 2019, reportedly by suicide, while on remand at a facility in New York on sex trafficking charges.
While Epstein did have friendships with many well-known people, including Trump, former US president Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew, no criminal charges have emerged against these people.
In other Epstein case documents unsealed in January, Trump is mentioned in the context of emails sent to a New York Post reporter in 2016.
Sarah Ransome claimed she had sex tapes relating to Trump, Clinton, Richard Branson and others but retracted the allegations later the same year.
Trump himself currently faces a variety of in-progress court cases and indictments, and was found liable for sexual abuse in a 2023 civil trial.
Another woman began legal proceedings against Trump and Epstein in 2016 over an alleged rape while she was a teenager but dropped the lawsuit before it went before the courts.
Trump’s legal representative at the time described the allegation as “baseless” and “categorically untrue”.
Similar claims about the new documents revealing information about Trump and Epstein have also been debunked by NBC News and Reuters.
AAP Factcheck has previously debunked claims about links between Epstein and such celebrities as Whoopi Goldberg, Jimmy Kimmel, Barack Obama and Tom Hanks.
The Verdict
False – The claim is inaccurate.
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