Claim:
U.S. President Donald Trump called convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s Little St. James island a “cesspool” in 2015.
Rating:
In November 2025, online users claimed a video from 2015 showed U.S. President Donald Trump calling convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s Little St, James island “a cesspool.”
A Snopes reader emailed us a link to a Facebook post (archived), adding, “Just discovered this. Something about Trump mentioning Epstein in 2015.” The post included an image meme showing Trump speaking with Bloomberg Politics. The meme read, in part, “BREAKING: A resurfaced 2015 clip shows Donald Trump calling out Epstein Island BEFORE the public even knew who Epstein really was. … A guilty man doesn’t expose the thing he’s supposedly trying to hide.”
(Conservative Twins/Facebook)
The Facebook post’s text caption claimed the “major throwback” video “blows up the Democrats’ entire Epstein narrative,” essentially claiming the clip proved Trump was never involved in Epstein’s sex crimes. Users claiming Trump participated in those crimes have yet to present credible evidence of any such activity.
Numerous Instagram and X users reposted the clip in November 2025. A search of X indicated one user’s popular post (archived) from Nov. 15 first prompted others to share the resurfaced video. That user’s handle appeared as a watermark in the top-left corner of the Facebook meme.
In short, the claim was true. The post referenced a genuine video from 2015 in which Trump called Epstein’s island “a cesspool.” Epstein owned both Great St. James and Little St. James.
Trump made the remark during a Feb. 27, 2015, video interview with Bloomberg Politics at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland. Trump also spoke at CPAC earlier that day, where he mentioned Epstein after Fox News host Sean Hannity asked him for his thoughts about former President Bill Clinton.
Clinton spokesperson Angel Ureña tweeted (archived) in 2019, in part, that Clinton knew nothing of Epstein’s crimes, and that he had never visited Epstein’s island.
The Trump video resurfaced in the days after the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s Nov. 12 release of more than 20,000 documents related to the late convicted sex offender, including many emails to and from Epstein that mentioned Trump.
Trump’s full remarks from CPAC 2015
On Feb. 27, 2015, Trump delivered a speech at CPAC, then fielded questions from Hannity, who asked him generally about Clinton. Trump answered, “Nice guy. Got a lot of problems coming up in my opinion with the famous island with Jeffrey Epstein. A lot of problems.”
The moment with Trump’s answer appears at the 21:09 mark in the video from the Roll Call Factbase Videos YouTube channel:
Later that day, Trump walked onto the Bloomberg Politics TV set while they broadcasted live. During the interview, Trump told correspondent Mark Halperin he believed there was an 80% chance he would run for president in 2016. Then, Halperin asked Trump about his Epstein comment earlier in the day:
HALPERIN: You raised the question of Jeffrey Epstein in your remarks about pre— in the Q&A with Sean.
TRUMP [referencing Clinton]: Well, I think he’s got a problem. I mean, I’m hearing.
HALPERIN: What do you think the problem will be?
TRUMP: I don’t know but that island was really a cesspool. There’s no question about it. Just ask Prince Andrew. He’ll tell you about it. The island was an absolute cesspool, so …
HALPERIN: The Clintons are friends of yours, right?
TRUMP: … and he’s been there for many times.
HALPERIN: The Clintons are friends of yours?
TRUMP: Well, I can’t say friends, but I know …
HALPERIN: You’re friendly. You know them.
TRUMP: They play at my clubs a lot. I have clubs and everybody likes to play at my clubs.
HALPERIN [referencing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton]: Are you saying there’s a political problem for her if she runs for president?
TRUMP: It could be a political problem. Look, he could be a political problem. Right now, he’s Teflon and right now maybe not. But he could end up being a political problem.
The remarks about Epstein begin at the 1:27 mark in the video from the Bloomberg Originals YouTube channel:
This claim about Trump’s genuine remark stood as one of numerous matters regarding his relationship with Epstein, including a rumor that the president spent Thanksgiving with him in 2017. Snopes also looked into newly-released emails involving Epstein and Trump, multiple photos showing the pair together and verified Trump saying in 2002 that Epstein was a “terrific guy,” adding: “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.”
Allegations against Prince Andrew
Trump’s mention of Prince Andrew, known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor after being stripped of his title in 2025, pertained to sexual abuse allegations against Mountbatten-Windsor involving Epstein and Epstein’s confidant, convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as others.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who died by suicide in April 2025, previously accused Epstein of sexual abuse and of trafficking her to Mountbatten-Windsor and other men.
In 2009, Giuffre sued Epstein and reached a $500,000 settlement with no admission of liability or fault. She also sued Mountbatten-Windsor in 2021, accusing him of sexually abusing her when she was 17. He agreed to settle the lawsuit, including by making an undisclosed donation to her charity and declaring he didn’t mean to malign her character. Her 2015 lawsuit against Maxwell ended in a settlement in 2017.
Giuffre’s posthumous memoir, released in late October 2025, said Mountbatten-Windsor sexually abused her while traveling with Epstein. Days after her memoir’s release, King Charles III stripped Mountbatten-Windsor, his brother, of his royal titles and evicted him from his royal residence, with Buckingham Palace saying the action pertained to his history of allegations involving Epstein. The stripping of royal titles followed Mountbatten-Windsor’s own surrendering of his Duke of York title.
BBC reported Buckingham Palace’s full statement:
His Majesty has today initiated a formal process to remove the style, titles and honours of Prince Andrew.
Prince Andrew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.
His lease on Royal Lodge has, to date, provided him with legal protection to continue in residence.
Formal notice has now been served to surrender the lease and he will move to alternative private accommodation.
These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him.
Their Majesties wish to make clear that their thoughts and utmost sympathies have been, and will remain with, the victims and survivors of any and all forms of abuse.
For further reading, we previously reported about a Trump appearance on “The Howard Stern Show” in 2006, in which he jocularly mouthed the words “It’s true” or “That’s true” after someone said he’s a sexual predator.
Sources
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———. “Real 1997 Photo of Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Together?” Snopes, 22 July 2024, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/1997-photo-trump-epstein/.
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