Epstein emails led to rumors that Trump spent 2017 Thanksgiving with him. Here’s what we found.

President Donald Trump has distanced himself from disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, saying the former friends had severed ties more than a decade before Epstein’s 2019 arrest on federal sex trafficking charges. 

But one Democrat is using newly-released documents from Epstein’s estate to assert that the two remained friends after Trump first became president in 2016. 

Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., highlighted one email exchange and said in a Nov. 12 X post: "Trump spent his first Thanksgiving after getting elected President with Jeffrey Epstein. 2017."

He attached an image of emails dated Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 23, 2017, between Epstein and NEXT Management Cofounder Faith Kates, which read:

Epstein: hope today is fun for you.

Kates: Fun!!! When are you back in NYC?

Epstein: all next week

Kates: Ok dylan will want to see you I always want to see you. Where are you having thanksgiving?

Epstein: eva

Faith Kates: That means glenn check out his red hair!!!

Epstein: berries color for holiday

Kates: He’s such a snooze who else is down there?

Epstein: david fizel. hanson. trump

Kates: Have fun!!!

PolitiFact contacted Casten for comment but received no response.

"Those emails prove literally nothing," White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told PolitiFact in an email.

News reports, photos, videos and White House releases show Trump spent that 2017 Thanksgiving in Mar-a-Lago. PolitiFact did not find any proof he met with Epstein that day.

There are different accounts of when Trump and Epstein had their falling out, with periods ranging from 2004 to 2007. The Miami Herald reported that Trump barred Epstein from Mar-a-Lago in October 2007, a decade before the Thanksgiving Day in question.

In 2008, Epstein pled guilty to state charges of soliciting prostitution and soliciting prostitution from a minor.

Two of the three people Epstein mentioned in his 2017 email as being "down there" are people who had property in South Florida at the time. We did not know who "Hanson" referred to. It is possible Epstein was not foretelling a specific Thanksgiving Day plan but answering another New Yorker’s question about who among the people in their social circle would also be in the Florida area during that period. 

Trump arrived in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Nov. 21, 2017, and stayed there for several days, according to the president’s public schedules documented in Roll Call’s FactBase. 

On Thanksgiving morning, Nov. 23, 2017, he spoke to members of the military via video conference and visited Coast Guard members at the Lake Worth Inlet Station in Riviera Beach, Florida. The White House published transcripts of Trump’s remarks to both groups. Trump also issued a Thanksgiving message to the country and he went to Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.

Photographers for The Associated Press, The Palm Beach Post and Getty Images, among others, captured photos of Trump’s activities. 

A CNN report said Trump held an "opulent" dinner at the Mar-a-Lago members-only club. PolitiFact did not find reports listing who was in attendance, but the White House told CNN the first family would be having "a nice Thanksgiving dinner with all the family."

Trump was also active on social media. In a Nov. 22, 2017, Twitter post, he said he "Will be having meetings and working the phones from the Winter White House in Florida (Mar-a-Lago)." He did not specify with whom he will be meeting. On Thanksgiving morning, he said in part: "HAPPY THANKSGIVING, your Country is starting to do really well." 

Trump left Mar-a-Lago and returned to the White House on Nov. 26, 2017, the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

The Miami Herald reported Nov. 15, 2025, "There is no indication that (Trump and Epstein) met for Thanksgiving that year."

Documents show Epstein was traveling to West Palm Beach and the U.S. Virgin Islands around that time

Flight records, made searchable by Business Insider, show that Epstein used one of his private jets to make the following flights in mid- to late-November 2017:

• Nov. 13, 2017 – From New York to West Palm Beach

• Nov. 26, 2017 – From West Palm Beach to Virgin Islands

• Nov. 27, 2017 – From Virgin Islands to New York

• Nov. 30, 2017 – From New York to West Palm Beach

This indicates that Epstein may have been in the Palm Beach area the same time as Trump. Newly-released emails also show that Epstein was aware of Trump’s travel.

In a Nov. 20, 2017, email, Epstein’s longtime pilot Larry Visoski wrote, "Jeffrey, While Trump is in (Palm Beach International Airport), TSA only allows arrival and departures between 8am and 5pm for General Aviation. I made a resv for Nov 26th at 8am to St Thomas."

The email continued, "Passengers: You and [redacted]. I can make passenger changes up to 24 Hours before Departure, they also request if we are traveling with an animal., FYI, They also ask if Passengers are Male or Female, strange, they didn’t ask names." 

Epstein replied Nov. 20, 2017, "might make more sense to reposition on sat to boca?" Visoski then agreed to "re-position to Boca on Saturday" and to make reservations "for departure for Dave and I."

Court records show Epstein would frequently use his private plane to fly to St. Thomas’ international airport, then use helicopters to go to Little St. James, the island he owned where he was alleged to have trafficked underage girls for sex.

In another reply dated Nov. 21, 2017, Epstein wrote, "we will have others get names from lesley." He might have been referring to Lesley Groff, his former executive assistant. One victim testified that Groff would book her flights to Epstein’s properties, the Palm Beach Post reported.

It is unclear whether these plans had anything to do with meeting Trump, or whether they were trying to avoid any flight disruptions. It’s possible that they planned to fly out from the Boca Raton Airport instead to avoid restrictions at the Palm Beach International Airport.

As he was facing a civil lawsuit in 2017, Epstein spent "most of his time on his private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands," the Palm Beach Post reported Nov. 28, 2017. At the time, his trial scheduled for Dec. 5, 2017, was postponed to March 2018. The attorney representing Epstein’s accusers had Trump on his witness list.

Who were the other names in the email?

"Eva," whom Epstein referred to, is likely his former girlfriend Eva Andersson-Dubin, who he dated in the ‘80s and ‘90s and with whom he remained friends. Andersson-Dubin is married to hedge fund manager Glenn Dubin, who is likely the person Kates referred to with the red hair.

Eva Andersson-Dubin founded the Dubin Breast Center at Mount Sinai. The couple is known among New York and Palm Beach circles, Business Insider reported. We found no information about where the Dubins spent Thanksgiving in 2017.

Epstein had attended at least one other Thanksgiving celebration with the Dubins: in 2009 at their Palm Beach home. 

Julie K. Brown, the Miami Herald reporter who broke many of the stories that led to the arrests of Epstein and his partner Ghislaine Maxwell, posted Nov. 14 on X: "Epstein did NOT say he was spending Thanksgiving with Trump. It is very common in South Fla during winter/holiday season for folks to use the phrase ‘down there’ — it means are you down in Florida (in this case Palm Beach) for the holiday — not that you are sitting at the table with everyone who is ‘down there.’"

David Fiszel founded the hedge fund Honeycomb Asset Management. Fiszel also owned property in Palm Beach in 2017, a mansion he purchased in 2013 and later sold to former Apple CEO John Sculley in 2018.

PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.