A former Trump casino executive has alleged that Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein brought underage girls to Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City during the late 1980s.
Jack O’Donnell, who served as the casino’s president under Trump, told CNN that Epstein was a frequent presence at the venue and was often seen alongside Trump. In some cases, O’Donnell claims, the two were accompanied by girls who appeared to be underage.
“In my mind, [Epstein] was his best friend, you know, [throughout] the time I was there for four years,” O’Donnell said. He described seeing the two together regularly, including on occasions when they were joined by young women.
The situation reportedly drew attention from New Jersey state regulators. O’Donnell recalled arriving at his office one morning to find casino commission inspectors already there. They had spotted Trump and Epstein on the casino floor with a recognizable young athlete.
“One of the inspectors happened to be a tennis fan and said, ‘Jack, I know she’s 19 years old,’” O’Donnell told CNN.
New Jersey law prohibits anyone under 21 from being on the casino floor. Inspectors, according to O’Donnell, determined that at least some members of the group were below the legal age.
Rather than issuing a penalty, the state gave Trump a warning.
“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,’” O’Donnell said. He added that he also told Trump directly, “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.”
Trump’s own words have come back to haunt him. In earlier interviews, he referred to Epstein as “a terrific guy” and joked about his interest in younger women. After Epstein’s 2019 arrest and jailhouse death, those words took on a much more troubling significance.
O’Donnell’s story is just the latest account to shed light on the social world Epstein inhabited before his downfall.
Johanna Sjöberg, one of the women who testified in a defamation case involving Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell, also recalled Epstein referencing Trump. “Jeffrey said, ‘Great, we’ll call up Trump and we’ll go to’ — I don’t recall the name of the casino, but — ‘we’ll go to the casino,’” Sjöberg testified in a deposition.
Neither Trump nor his representatives have directly responded to O’Donnell’s latest claims. The Trump campaign has generally denied any wrongdoing in prior statements related to Epstein.
Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino shut its doors in 2014 and was demolished seven years later, in 2021.
