Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Sit Ringside in Unearthed 1997 Video

Donald Trump's relationship with the late Jeffrey Epstein has been under a microscope lately over the Epstein files ... and TMZ has now unearthed a fascinating video of the two men watching a boxing match at the Trump Taj Mahal almost 3 decades ago.

Check out the footage ... which doesn't show anything untoward, but it's still super interesting seeing Trump and Epstein sitting near each other close to the ring where George Foreman is duking it out with Shannon Briggs at the casino-hotel in November 1997.

During the heavyweight championship fight, Trump is seen yapping with everyone seated around him, including Epstein -- who, at one point, appears to be chuckling at something the future 47th president said.

Trump and Epstein share another moment in the video, talking over a bunch of people with their heads turned toward each other. But, like we said, there's absolutely nothing nefarious in any of this.

In fact, the clip already confirms what we have known for a long time ... Trump and Epstein knew each other years ago and even palled around a bit. Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Trump's name also pops up more than several times in the Epstein files, but there's nothing in the file that implicates Trump in any wrongdoing.

We're told Trump appears repeatedly in flight logs, traveling on Epstein's jet from New York City to Florida, where both men had residences and Trump still does -- his Mar-a-Lago resort.

What's more, Trump's interactions with Epstein came way before Epstein's first indictment in 2006 related to soliciting an underage victim for prostitution in Florida. And everyone knows what happened to Epstein later in a Manhattan federal lockup.

Of course, this is all set against the backdrop of the Trump administration's botched rollout of the Epstein files, which has put not only the Commander-in-Chief on the hot seat, but his closest aides as well.