US President Donald Trump and late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein shared a close relationship, with the latter calling Trump his “best friend”, according to a New York Times investigation published on Thursday. Epstein, a convicted sex offender, died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking of underage girls. He held close associations with several influential people, including business tycoons and celebrities. In November, Democrats released emails that suggested Trump was aware of the financier’s sexual abuse and definitely “knew about the girls.” According to the NYT, while Trump was not found implicated in Epstein’s abuse and trafficking of minors, it appeared that the two men’s relationship was “far closer” than what the US president maintains. “Beginning in the late 1980s, the two men forged a bond intense enough to leave others who knew them with the impression that they were each other‘s closest friend,” NYT reported, with Epstein reported to have claimed that he w...