In the mid-1990s, Jeffrey Epstein was involved with a blonde Norwegian heiress who later had a relationship with Donald Trump, The Daily Mail reported on a new witness testimony at Maxwell's trial.
According to the report, the pedophile was dating Celina Midelfart, the granddaughter of the Midelfart cosmetics company's founder, who later became the company's chairwoman, while at the same time he was also dating other women.
Midelfart reportedly flew aboard Epstein's private plane at least 13 times, one of Maxwell's attorneys, Christian Everdell, claimed during the cross-examination of Epstein's former pilot, in an effort to prove that their client was not engaged in recruiting and trafficking underage girls for Epstein.
Pilot David Rodgers was questioned about a number of women Epstein dated in the 1990s and 2000s. The prosecution has repeatedly stated that Maxwell and Epstein were in a close relationship, thus it appeared to be an attempt by the defense to put distance between them.
And Rodgers reportedly testified that Maxwell and Epstein were indeed dating, but eventually broke up.
According to the report, Rodgers confirmed to Everdell that he was aware of Epstein's "romantic relationship" with Midelfart in 1996. The infamous "Lolita Express" plane pilot responded positively to the question of whether she was in her 20s or early 30s at the time.
Donald Trump is reported to have dated the Norwegian woman for some time after that, but eventually dumped Midelfart in 1998 in order to date Melania Knavs, his then-future third wife.
There are several photos of them together that can be found on social media.
Among the women Epstein became involved with later was said to be Shelley Lewis, a British who dated him from 1999 to 2002 and whom Rodgers claimed he felt was in a relationship with the financier.
More to the pilot revelations, between 1991 and 2019, Rodgers claimed he flew Epstein on thousands of flights, and Maxwell accompanied him on hundreds of them. Rodgers said Maxwell and Epstein flew on the disgraced financier's recently-purchased Hawker Siddeley HS 125 from Wilmington, Delaware, to Teterboro Airport in New Jersey on July 26, 1991, according to his flight logs, which were presented to the court.
Rodgers reportedly characterized Maxwell as Epstein's "Number 2," saying she was in charge of overseeing all of Epstein's pilots and approving their vacations and costs. During his early years working for Epstein, he said the two were "romantically involved," but the relationship ended and Maxwell became his property manager.
Interestingly, the pilot also recalled that Virginia Roberts Giuffre, the most notable of Epstein's accusers but not among those who testified in Maxwell's trial, was flown aboard the plane more than 30 times in the early 2000s.
Rodgers also reportedly said at the trial he was able to walk freely into the cabins during flights and had never seen any signs of sexual conduct, and that he was unaware of any girls under the age of 17 traveling alone.
Rodgers' testimony and the flight logs were taken into evidence, but the names of the passengers were reportedly redacted. And according to reports, Rodgers did not mention any of the notable celebrities, politicians, or musicians who were among his passengers, unlike the prosecution's first witness, Larry Visoski, Epstein's pilot for 25 years.
According to tabloids at the time, the breakdown of the relationship between New York tycoon Trump and the Norwegian woman began when Trump and Midelfart allegedly went on a night out at New York's Kit Kat Club in the late 1990s. There, he saw Melania and requested her phone number. Although the then-model initially declined, Trump persevered, and she eventually consented.