- President Donald Trump told reporters on Tuesday morning: “I don’t know Prince Andrew.”
- However, there are photos of the two men attending functions and chatting effusively to each other dating as far back as February 2000, and as recently as June 2019.
- Prince Andrew’s reputation has a taken a massive hit since he gave a prime-time interview about his relationship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
- Trump has also sought to distance himself from Epstein in recent months.
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday denied knowing Prince Andrew, the second son of Queen Elizabeth II currently facing public scrutiny over his friendship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump made the claim at a press conference in London, where he is attending a summit with NATO leaders on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“I don’t know Prince Andrew but it’s a tough story, it’s a very tough story,” he told reporters, according to Reuters.
But a series of photos of the two men together – dating as far back as 2000, and as recently as June 2019, say otherwise.
This photo from February 12, 2000 shows then-real estate developer Trump, his then-girlfriend Melania Knauss, and Andrew at Mar-a-Lago, Trump's private golf club in Palm Beach, Florida.
On the same evening, Trump was pictured with Epstein, and his alleged madam, Ghislaine Maxwell, who appear to have been attending the same event as Prince Andrew.
The two men met again in early June 2019, when Trump went to London for D-Day memorial celebrations.
It's not clear if they had met each other again between 2000 and 2019, as there are no photos of them together in public.
However, the two men carried out multiple engagements together in June, which included a breakfast meeting and a service at Westminster Abbey to honor military veterans. They were photographed greeting each other effusively at the time.
Andrew was also seen speaking to Trump's daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, at a Buckingham Palace reception later that night.
Trump was at the same reception speaking to the Queen.
The Queen is expected to host another reception for NATO leaders, including Trump, on Tuesday night.
However, Andrew - who was two weeks ago stripped of his royal duties "for the foreseeable future" - was left off the guest list, the Evening Standard and The Sun reported.
She also canceled a scheduled party for Andrew's 60th birthday, The Sunday Times reported last week.
Andrew came under further fire on Monday night, when BBC's "Panorama" aired a program featuring Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre Roberts detailing her alleged sexual abuse by the prince.
"This is not some sordid sex story," Giuffre said. "This is a story of being trafficked. This is a story of abuse, and this is a story of your guys' royalty."
"In the car Ghislaine tells me that I have to do for Andrew what I do for Jeffrey and that just made me sick," Giuffre said, referring to Epstein's ex-girlfriend and alleged madam, Ghislaine Maxwell. "I just didn't expect it from royalty. I didn't expect it from someone people look up to and admire."
Andrew has repeatedly denied "any form of sexual contact or relationship" with Giuffre, claiming in another BBC interview last month that he had been at a party in the Woking branch of Pizza Express with his daughter at the time of the alleged meeting.
Trump has also distanced himself from Epstein despite claiming in 2002 that the two men shared a long friendship. Kellyanne Conway, the president's counselor, said this year that Trump hadn't spoken to Epstein "in 10 or 15 years," and called the charges leveled against Epstein "disgusting" and "obviously criminal."
Claiming not to know Prince Andrew was not the only falsehood Trump gave at his Tuesday morning press conference.
He repeated a false claim that he predicted the outcome of the 2016 Brexit referendum "the day before" the result, while he was opening his Turnberry golf course in Scotland.
However, the Brexit vote was on June 23, 2016, and Trump was not at Turnberry until June 24, Insider's Thomas Colson noted.
- Read more:
- How Prince Andrew's voluntary decision to do a prime-time interview about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein set his reputation on fire and tanked his royal career
- 'I just didn't expect it from royalty': Prince Andrew accuser gives tear-filled interview and implores the British public to stand with her
- Everything we know about Trump's connection to financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was charged with sex trafficking
- The NATO summit started as uncomfortably as expected, with Trump slamming Macron's 'very, very nasty' statement on the group being brain-dead