President Trump on Monday detailed his falling out with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as Republicans and Democrats push for more transparency on the Epstein case.
Speaking at joint press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at his Turnberry golf course in Scotland, Trump explained his reasoning for banishing Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
“He did something that was inappropriate,” Trump said. “He hired help and I said don't ever do that again. He stole people that worked for me, I said don’t ever do that again, he did it again and I threw him out of the place … and that was it, I’m glad I did, if you want to know the truth.”
Trump also said he turned down an invitation to visit Epstein’s private island, calling it “one of my very good moments.”
“I never had the privilege of going to his island and I did turn him down," Trump said. "But a lot of people in Palm Beach were invited to his island. In one of my very good moments I turned it down, I didn’t want to go to his island.”
Trump has sought to close the book on the Epstein matter ever since his Justice Department determined there was no “client list” and reaffirmed that Epstein died by suicide in his New York City jail cell.
On Monday, Trump’s lawyers said in a new court filing they want to depose Rupert Murdoch as quickly as possible as part of their lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal over a story claiming Trump once sent Epstein a birthday card.
Congress has been issuing subpoenas to obtain additional files in the Epstein case, including for Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving 20 years on sex-trafficking charges.
A senior Justice Department official interviewed Maxwell last week seeking additional information.
“I’m allowed to give her a pardon,” Trump said Monday. “Nobody’s approached me with it, nobody’s asked me about it. It’s in the news, about that, that aspect of it. But right now it would be inappropriate to talk about it.”
Maxwell on Monday urged the Supreme Court to overturn her sex-trafficking conviction.
“We are appealing not only to the Supreme Court but to the President himself to recognize how profoundly unjust it is to scapegoat Ghislaine Maxwellfor Epstein’s crimes, especially when the government promised she would not be prosecuted,” attorney David Oscar Markus wrote.
Congress has also approved subpoenas for several Democratic officials that similarly ran in Epstein’s social circle, including former President Clinton.
“I never went to the island and Bill Clinton went there supposedly 28 times,” Trump said. “I never went to the island but [former Treasury Secretary] Larry Summers, I hear, went there, he was the head of Harvard. And many other people that are very big people, nobody ever talks about them.”
Trump’s insistence that Congress drop the matter has failed to quell the uproar among lawmakers seeking full transparency in the case.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who has cosponsored legislation with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) seeking additional Epstein files, said the administration is “hiding behind” claims that they’re trying to protect victims.
“Ro and I carefully crafted this legislation so that the victims’ names will be redacted and that no child pornography will be released. So, they’re hiding behind that,” Massie said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“We’re trying to get justice for the victims and transparency for America,” Massie added. “And so, you know, we’ve redacted things before. We don’t want to hurt the victims. We’re doing this for the victims.”
MEANWHILE…
Trump would rather talk about GOP probes into key figures from the Obama administration following the release of newly declassified documents pertaining to Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 election.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe said former CIA Director John Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former FBI Director James Comey could face charges for allegedly manipulating and manufacturing intelligence to create a narrative that Russia intervened on Trump’s behalf.
“We’re gonna continue to share the intelligence that would support the ability of our Department of Justice to make fair and just, bring fair and justice claims against those who have perpetrated this hoax against the American people and this stain on our country,” Ratcliffe said.
The officials deny wrongdoing and point to a bipartisan Senate investigation that found Russia sought to boost Trump in the election against Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Trump, meanwhile, said over the weekend that former Vice President Kamala Harris should be “prosecuted” for allegedly paying celebrities, including Beyoncé, Oprah Winfrey and Al Sharpton, to endorse her and participate in campaign events during the 2024 presidential election.
The celebrities deny the pay-to-play scheme and say all the money passed on to workers putting the events together or to their nonprofit organizations was legal.
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