Donald Trump once admitted to police that Jeffrey Epstein‘s criminality was well-known among his social circle.

In a recently revealed document from the Department of Justice‘s case files on the late sex trafficker, former Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter told the FBI about a call that he had with Trump in 2006.

Reiter recalled their conversation from around the time of Epstein’s first arrest in a 2019 interview with the FBI. He told the agency that Trump seemed relieved at the news of the Epstein investigation.

“Thank goodness you’re stopping him,” Trump supposedly said. “Everyone has known he’s been doing this.”

Trump has previously claimed he had “no idea” about Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell‘s sex crimes involving underage girls. Reiter’s recollection runs counter to that. Trump allegedly told the police chief about a time that he saw Epstein and Maxwell with teenagers, telling the former top cop that he fled the scene.

“He was around Epstein once when teenagers were present and Trump ‘got the hell out of there,’” the file, first reported by the Miami Herald, reads.

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Per Reiter, Trump was one of the first people to contact him after the investigation into Epstein became public knowledge. He told Reiter to focus the investigation on Maxwell, calling her “evil.”

The staggered release of the Epstein files has deepened a rift among Republicans. Many former staunch defenders of the Trump administration have put distance between themselves and the White House as files have revealed relationships between Epstein and Trump associates like Howard Lutnick and Steve Bannon. Trump, for his part, has called for the country to move on from Epstein conspiracy theories.

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