Trump On Jeffrey Epstein: 'Terrific Guy, A Lot Of Fun To Be With'

President Donald Trump is being linked to the renewed legal scrutiny of his friend, Jeffrey Epstein, a registered sex offender preying on minors who was rearrested Saturday for the sex trafficking of minors in Florida and New York. Epstein has molested dozens of young girls in Florida, according to court records.

Epstein, a millionaire who made his fortune in investment banking, has been a registered sex offender since 2008. In this year, Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to a single state charge of soliciting prostitution from girls as young as 14.

In 2002, Trump said this of Epstein: "I've known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy. 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."

With the re-arrest of Epstein, there is a chance Trump might be questioned about his links to his friend. Trump and Epstein have been in legal jeopardy before because of their alleged sexual involvement with minors.

In 2008, Epstein was sentenced to 18 months in prison but instead of being sent to state prison like most sex offenders convicted in Florida, he was housed in a private wing of the Palm Beach County stockade in a controversial plea deal with the state’s attorney general.

The deal also allowed Epstein a “work release” to work at his downtown office for up to 12 hours a day six days a week. He served 13 months before being released on probation for a year. While on probation, Epstein made many trips on his private jet to his homes in Manhattan and the U.S. Virgin Islands where he resides.

Epstein is registered in New York State as a Level 3 sex offender, which is a lifelong designation. Level 3 means Epstein has a high risk of re-offense.

In April 2016, a federal lawsuit filed in California against Epstein and Trump by a California woman alleged both men sexually assaulted her when she was 13 years old at a number of parties at Epstein's Manhattan home in 1994. The suit was dismissed by a federal judge in May 2016, however.

This woman filed a third suit against both Epstein and Trump in September 2016 but dropped the lawsuit in November after receiving death threats. Trump was by then running as the Republican Party’s candidate for president of the United States.

Trump's long-time association with Epstein also involves allegations women were lured into sex trafficking from Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida. One woman claimed Epstein's ex-girlfriend recruited her for prostitution as a 15-year-old when she worked as a locker room attendant at Mar-a-Lago, where Epstein was a frequent guest.

Police officers cited by media say Epstein trafficked dozens of minors in New York and Florida between 2002 and 2005.