Trump, Epstein, and the Billion-Dollar Air Force One Mystery

Patrick Gutfield dives into Trump’s wild 1990s friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, the shady modeling agency connections, and that infamous Mar-a-Lago party with 28 young women. Plus, the jaw-dropping $934 million secret Air Force One makeover funded by nuclear missile money.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Callaroga Shark Media from Washington, DC were seriously released the
Epstein files already. This is ballad, that's right, And I'm
fine with you releasing the Epstein files because I'm not
in them. Hi, I'm Patrick Gutfield. And USA Today reported
how back in the nineteen nineties, Trump and Epstein were

(00:24):
basically the poster boys for New York Excess, two rich
guys living blocks apart in Manhattan, both with mansions in
Florida just two miles from each other, throwing parties that
would make Studio fifty four look like a church potluck.
These weren't your typical rich guy hangouts either. Trump owned
the Plaza Hotel and would host parties there that, according

(00:44):
to author Michael Gross, had a very specific guest list criteria.
As Gross jokingly put it, if they were checking IDs,
it was to make sure the girls were young enough,
which is the kind of joke that stops being funny
when you realize it might not be a joke. Trump
even started his own modeling agency in nineteen ninety nine,

(01:05):
Trump Models, because apparently, when you're already running casinos and hotels,
the natural next step is, you know what this empire needs?
Teen models. The agency represented Malania, who would become his
third wife, and various teenage models. Meanwhile, Epstein was investing
in modeling agencies too, including one run by a guy

(01:27):
who had been banned from his previous agency in Europe
for abuse allegations. There's apparently actual video from nineteen ninety
two of Trump and Epstein at Mara a Lago hanging
out with Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins cheerleaders dancing to
rhythm is a dancer and honestly, that sentence contained so
many red flags it could be used to direct traffic.

(01:48):
At one mar A Lago party, according to The New
York Times, the guest list was Trump, Epstein, and twenty
eight young women. Trump famously called Epstein a terrific guy
in two thousand and two, telling New York Magazine He's
a lot of fun to be with. It is even
said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do,
and many of them are on the younger side. Trump's

(02:09):
friendship with Epstein apparently ended around two thousand and four,
when they had a falling out over a Palm beach
mansion called Maison de le Metie, which is French for
house of friendship Trump outfit. Epstein paid forty one million dollars,
then flipped it for ninety five million to a Russian billionaire,
So their friendship ended over real estate, which is probably
the most Trump way possible to end a friendship. Trump

(02:33):
now claims he wasn't a fan of Epstein and kicked
him out of mar A Lago for being a creep,
which raises the obvious question, how long does it take
to figure out someone's a creep when you're parting with
them and twenty eight young women at your private club.
The most telling part of this whole story might be
Trump's confusion about why anyone cares. I don't understand why

(02:54):
the Jeffrey Epstein case would be of interest to anybody,
he told reporters. Really, you don't understand why people might
be interested in a billionaire sex trafficker who had connections
to powerful politicians and died under mysterious circumstances in federal custody.
As author Mike Rothschild put it, the story isn't Epstein anymore.

(03:15):
The story is Donald Trump talking about Epstein. Remember that
free air Force one Trump got from Qatar? And when
I say free, I mean free the way a rescue
dog is free. Sure, there's no adoption feed, but you're
about to spend a fortune on vet bills, toys, and
explaining to your neighbors why your new pet keeps barking
at three in the morning. Now, the official cost of

(03:37):
this Air Force one makeover classify, which is government speak
for so expensive. We had to hide it from ourselves,
even by Washington standards, where they use black budgets to
hide the cost of everything from spy satellites to really
nice office Christmas parties. This level of secrecy is impressive,
But Congressional budget detectives and yes, that's apparently a real job,

(04:01):
have discovered something fascinating. There's been a nine hundred and
thirty four million dollar transfer from the Pentagon. Nine hundred
and thirty four million. That money was quietly moved from
America's nuclear missile modernization program to what's described as an
unnamed classified project. The nuclear missile program, by their way,
is called Sentinel, which sounds like a superhero but performs

(04:24):
more like that friend who promises to help you move
and then shows up three hours late with a Honda Civic.
The plane will be renovated at a Texas facility known
for secret technology projects. Secret technology projects that's either incredibly
sophisticated or they're just really good at hiding the fact
that they're using duct tape. This plane renovation will take

(04:46):
a year or two to complete. Then after Trump leaves
office in twenty twenty nine, the Golden aircraft, and yes,
there will be gold trim because of course there will
be gets transferred to Trump's future presidential library. So let
me understand this correctly. We're spending nearly a billion dollars
of nuclear security money to renovate a plane, and then

(05:08):
it becomes a museum exhibit. But here's my favorite part
of this whole story. The Air Force says they can't
discuss the cost of renovating the president's plane because it's classified,
but they're perfectly happy to discuss the cost of building
intercontinental ballistic missiles. Portions of today's show were made with
the help of AI and the Epstein Files.