Amid ongoing scrutiny of President Donald Trump and his administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein child sex trafficking case, newly unearthed video shows Trump taking part as a judge in a beauty pageant that featured models as young as 14 years old.
The video in question shows Trump as one of 10 judges in Elite Model Agency’s 1991 “Look of the Year” competition. Within the video, young women and girls walk in front of Trump and others in order to be judged on both their looks and “personality,” according to the narrator.
A Guardian investigation published in 2020 found that the competition was “used by founder John Casablancas and others to engage in sexual relationships with vulnerable young models, some of whom were teenagers.” Trump was not among those who were accused of such actions, but his behavior during similar pageants, recollected by those who had participated in them, has sparked renewed concerns regarding his treatment of women.
Contestants have recalled that they were “encouraged to parade downstairs, one by one, and dance for Trump” and other judges.
“I knew in my gut it wasn’t right. This wasn’t being judged or part of the competition – it was for their entertainment,” said one model, who was 15 when she competed.
The video’s circulation comes as Trump is dealing with fallout following his administration’s release of two pages of information regarding the Epstein child sex trafficking case. Those documents claim that the disgraced financier did not keep a “client list” of powerful people, as has been alleged in conspiracy theories that Trump himself has helped promote on the far right .
In addition to judging the competition, Trump also hosted the competition at his New York properties in 1991 and 1992. He’s also faced scrutiny for his behavior during Miss Teen USA pageants, with former participants in those competitions saying that he would often barge into their dressing rooms without warning them.
Trump has corroborated those claims himself, in later years bragging about how he could “get away” with such behavior by saying he was “inspecting” the room as the owner of the pageant.
Also in 1992, Trump, who was close friends with Jeffrey Epstein at the time, attended a party with him and several NFL cheerleaders, an event that was also filmed. The video, which has circulated online, shows the two ogling and commenting on the women involved. Trump also hosted a “calendar girl competition” at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida that year, although the only other person who attended the event was Epstein, The New York Times reported this weekend.
In interviews from the early 2000s, Trump expressed knowledge of Epstein’s preference for younger women, stating that he was “a terrific guy,” and that he enjoyed women “on the younger side.”
Trump’s disrespectful treatment of women has persisted, including into the White House. Some former staff from his first term in office say that Trump “engaged with women” in a “dangerous” manner, adding that they were “nervous about what could happen” if Trump was left alone with certain women staffers.
Since the release of the Justice Department’s short statement on the Epstein case earlier in July, Trump has become visibly upset both with reporters and with his own MAGA supporters online who have questioned the lack of transparency on the case. During the 2024 presidential race, Trump said he was open to releasing the files, and even implied that the Biden administration had been hiding them from the public — a clear instance of Trump using the Epstein drama as a means to further his own political ambitions.
This month, however, Trump tore into his supporters who are demanding more information, calling MAGA-backers asking for more Epstein documents “weaklings” who are in league with Democrats opposed to his administration.
A recently published CBS News poll conducted from July 16-18 finds that the vast majority of Americans overall, 75 percent, are dissatisfied with the Trump administration’s handling of the case. Among self-identified MAGA supporters, 60 percent say they are satisfied with the way Trump has handled the case — with 40 percent saying they are dissatisfied, indicating a rare splintering within Trump’s base.
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