Ex-Casino Boss Claims Trump and 'Best Friend' Jeffrey Epstein Were Once Caught Bringing Underage Girls to Casino Floor By Meredith Kile

A former employee of Donald Trump claimed in a new interview that the president and Jeffrey Epstein were once caught bringing girls into Trump’s casino who were not old enough to gamble. The White House denies the allegations.

Jack O’Donnell, who oversaw the Atlantic City Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino for four years in the 1980s, spoke with CNN’s Erin Burnett on Wednesday, July 16, about the president’s friendship with the late billionaire, who later became a convicted sex offender.

“In my mind, [Epstein] was his best friend, you know, [throughout] the time I was there for four years,” O’Donnell said in the interview, noting that the pair “frequently” came to Trump’s casino together.

One alleged instance stood out to the former casino boss. He claimed that one night in the late 1980s, Trump and Epstein visited Trump Plaza with three women and brought them onto the casino floor despite them being under 21.

O’Donnell said he found out about the incident the following day, when state casino commission inspectors were waiting for him in his office. An inspector, it seems, had identified one of the girls with Trump and Epstein as “the No. 3-ranked tennis player in the world.”

“This [inspector] happened to be a tennis fan and he said, ‘Jack, I know she’s 19 years old,’ ” O’Donnell said. “They had determined that the women that they brought down were underage to be in the casino.”

In the state of New Jersey, it is illegal for anyone under 21 to gamble on a casino floor. Despite the law, O’Donnell claims the commission gave Trump a “break” for the incident, but told him to warn the future president about the potential consequences.

“I had to call them and say, ‘They’re giving you a break this time, but if this happens again, the fine is going to be substantial and it’s going to be on your head,’ ” he claimed.

O’Donnell also claimed to have told Trump that continuing to hang out with Epstein and underage women was “not gonna look good.”

“I did tell him in that conversation, ‘I don’t think you should be hanging out with this guy, just so you know, and you certainly shouldn’t be doing that in Atlantic City,’ ” he said.

When asked on Thursday about O’Donnell’s CNN interview, the White House passionately denied his claims.

“Jack O’Donnell is a stone cold loser who is a liar and fraud,” White House communications director Steven Cheung told PEOPLE in a statement. “This is completely fabricated story from his warped imagination as he suffers from Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted his pea-sized brain.”

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Trump has been working to distance himself from his past with Epstein amid growing calls for his administration to release more evidence related to the late billionaire’s 2019 child sex-trafficking case.

It’s been a difficult sell, as he famously called him a “terrific guy” in a 2002 interview with New York magazine, adding, “It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”

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Trump has changed his tune in recent years. He and members of his administration have repeatedly promised the declassification and release of the so-called “Epstein files” — even on the 2024 campaign trail.

According to an itemized list from the Department of Justice, the evidence includes photos, cameras, computers, hard drives and more, including one CD labeled “girl pics nude book 4.”

However, the president, Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel have backpedaled in recent weeks, following the release of a joint memo from the DOJ and FBI, which stated that their investigation into Epstein’s alleged crimes and subsequent death in prison was complete. The memo also stated the investigation found that Epstein’s long-rumored “client list” did not exist.

The administration’s reticence to release the information has fractured the MAGA movement, with the president now denouncing any of his supporters who have fallen for the “Epstein hoax.”

“My PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bull——,’ hook, line, and sinker,” Trump wrote on social media on Wednesday. “Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats’ work, don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore!”

Days earlier, he also snapped at a reporter who asked him for more information on the report.

“Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?” Trump replied in frustration. “This guy’s been talked about for years … are people still talking about this guy, this creep? That is unbelievable.”

He continued, “I mean, I can’t believe you’re asking a question on Epstein at a time like this, where we’re having some of the greatest success and also tragedy, with what happened in Texas. It just seems like a desecration.”