Fact Check: Did Karoline Leavitt say Trump attended 498 dinners and 947 parties with Epstein?
WASHINGTON, DC: Former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has faced renewed scrutiny over comments attributed to her about President Donald Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
A post circulating on social media claims Leavitt said Trump attended hundreds of dinners and nearly 1,000 parties with Epstein, while arguing that the two men were not necessarily friends. The alleged comments have sparked questions online about whether Leavitt actually made the statement.
Claim: Karoline Leavitt said Trump attended several parties with Epstein
Karoline Leavitt: “Just because President Trump went to 498 dinners and 947 parties with Jeffrey Epstein doesn’t mean that they were friends.”
— Captain Obvious™️ (@TheFungi669) September 10, 2026
The claim originated from an X post by @TheFungi669 that attributed the comments to Karoline Leavitt. The post claimed that Leavitt said, “Just because President Trump went to 498 dinners and 947 parties with Jeffrey Epstein doesn’t mean that they were friends.” The post appeared to frame the statement as Leavitt defending Donald Trump’s past association with Epstein.
Leavitt has previously said that Trump cut Epstein off from Mar-a-Lago because he was a “creep.” She has also maintained that Trump and Epstein were not close friends and has dismissed some Epstein-related stories and documents as distractions or evidence that Trump was not involved in wrongdoing.
However, the comments on the X post focused less on Leavitt’s alleged defense of Trump and more on the claim that Trump attended 498 dinners and 947 parties with Epstein. Some users questioned whether Leavitt actually made the statement.
One user asked, “She said that?” Another wrote, “She really said that?” A commenter joked, “I don’t think I’ve been to 498 dinners even with my best friend…”
Another user argued that attending parties does not necessarily mean two people are friends, writing, “You should learn the difference between friend and acquaintance. I have been to many, many parties. Not 100, of course, but not all of those people are my friends.”
Fact Check: False. Karoline Leavitt did not make the statement
The claim is false. Karoline Leavitt did not make the statement. The X post appears to use sarcasm and exaggeration by inventing a quote and citing unrealistic numbers of dinners and parties Donald Trump attended with Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump and Epstein did have a well-documented social relationship that lasted roughly 15 years, from the late 1980s and early 1990s until the mid-2000s. They appeared together at several social events in Palm Beach and New York
Photos and videos show them together at events, including a 1992 party at Mar-a-Lago. Epstein also attended Trump’s 1993 wedding to Marla Maples. Other accounts have described the two socializing at parties and dinners and appearing in the same social circles.
The relationship reportedly ended around 2004 after a falling-out. Trump has not been accused of wrongdoing in Epstein’s crimes.
However, no public record shows that Trump attended exactly 498 dinners and 947 parties with Epstein. The specific numbers in the viral post appear to be fabricated for comedic effect. While the two men had a documented social relationship, the figures cited in the post have no known basis in public records.
