Jeffrey Epstein's Final Days in Jail: Prisoner's Claims About Donald Trump and Bill Clinton

A former prisoner's recollections of conversations with Jeffrey Epstein have resurfaced in a new report, including two unverified anecdotes involving Donald Trump and Bill Clinton. William Mersey, who spent time with Epstein in federal custody in 2019, said the financier recounted a story about Trump and later volunteered an explicit anecdote about Clinton.

William Mersey, a former inmate who says he spent time at New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center in 2019, recounted the stories in an interview reported by The Daily Beast in December of that year. TMZ revisited the Trump anecdote in a report published on 23 October 2026. Epstein was being held at the facility while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.

The former inmate also described an unsolicited story about Clinton. Neither account has been independently verified, and both presidents' names appearing in Epstein-related reporting does not, by itself, establish involvement in his crimes.

Epstein's Story About Trump's Self-Image

Mersey recalled asking Epstein for an anecdote that captured Trump's personality. According to Mersey, Epstein responded with a story about flying on his private jet with Trump and a French woman. In the account Mersey attributed to Epstein, Trump suggested stopping in Atlantic City so he could show the woman his casino.

In Mersey's account, Epstein refused because he considered the destination socially undesirable. The woman then asked what the disparaging description meant, prompting Trump, according to the story, to make a self-deprecating remark about how he would be perceived without his money.

TMZ's report presents the anecdote as an example of Epstein's willingness to ridicule the president in private. No independent evidence has established that the conversation took place as described.

Crude Anecdote About Bill Clinton

Mersey also said Epstein volunteered a story involving Clinton. According to Mersey, Epstein described walking through a city in China with the former president when a woman passed them. Mersey attributed to Epstein a claim that Clinton then made an explicit sexual remark about her.

The story is an allegation about a private conversation, not independently corroborated evidence of Clinton's conduct. TMZ said it contacted representatives for the former president but did not receive a response. The account does not establish that Clinton participated in Epstein's criminal activity, and the anecdote should not be treated as proof of wrongdoing.

Who Was William Mersey?

Mersey was incarcerated at the Metropolitan Correctional Center during 2019 after pleading guilty to federal tax evasion. He participated in an inmate companion programme that assigned prisoners to monitor people considered at risk of suicide. That role brought him into repeated contact with Epstein after the financier was placed under heightened observation.

Mersey said he spent more than two dozen hours with Epstein and that their conversations covered a range of subjects. He portrayed himself as someone who could keep the financier company in an unfamiliar and frightening environment. His descriptions of their discussions about Trump and Clinton were published by The Daily Beast in December 2019, meaning the stories themselves predate TMZ's latest report by nearly seven years.

TMZ said the White House responded to its request for comment by stating that Trump had expelled Epstein from Mar-a-Lago because he considered him a creep. The response did not directly address Mersey's account of the private-jet anecdote. Representatives for Clinton did not respond to the outlet's request, according to the report.