Donald Trump said he would have “no problem” releasing further details about the friends and associates of convicted trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. During a media interview, the former President said a complete list of Epstein’s “clients” would “probably” be made public and faced subsequent questions about whether he had ever visited Epstein’s notorious island, where girls and young women are believed to have been abused.
Podcaster Lex Fridman asked the Republican Presidential candidate why he appeared hesitant when questions surrounding Epstein’s client list were raised, and Trump replied, “I’m not involved. I never went to his island, fortunately, but a lot of people did.” Questioned about why such people would have associated with Epstein, the former President said the disgraced financier was a “good salesman” with “some nice assets that he’d throw around.”
The so-called “Epstein Files,” released by a court earlier this year, revealed that Trump had a long-term friendship with Epstein, and appeared on his private jet flight logs. Following revelations about their friendship, political opponents said it proved Trump should not be in the White House. Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu of California, for instance, urged reporters to look more deeply into the two men’s combined history and declared that “Donald Trump is unfit for office.”
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung hit back, saying Rep. Lieu was a “loser” who had “let Trump Derangement Syndrome rot his brain.”
Nevertheless, some of Epstein’s former alleged victims had made explosive claims about Trump’s “sexual proclivities.” Sarah Ransome accused the former President of intimate relations with “many girls” during his relationship with Epstein. Ms. Ransome said a friend told her she had repeated sexual encounters with Trump, during which he deliberately caused her physical pain. Steven Cheung replied, saying the claims were “fully retracted” because they were “simply false” and had “no merit.”
Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide at a Manhattan prison while awaiting trial for further human trafficking offenses. Conspiracy theories quickly spread among internet users who believed Epstein was murdered to prevent him from revealing details about powerful men who had joined him on his island, or at other locations, to engage in sexual activity with trafficked women.
