President Donald Trump said on Monday that he ended his friendship with disgraced financier and child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and banned him from his Florida club because “he stole people that worked for me,” The Associated Press reported.
Trump said this happened after he told Epstein, “Don’t ever do that again,” and the behaviour repeated. “I threw him out of the place, persona non grata,” he said, according to the US-based news agency.
The White House had on an earlier occasion explained via Communications Director Steven Cheung, “The fact is that the President kicked him out of his club for being a creep.”
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Push for Transparency
Trump has in recent days called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to push for public release of sealed Epstein grand jury transcripts. While one judge has denied that request, another ruling is still pending. Trump has insisted that he wants full transparency on the matter. At a factory appearance with Vice President JD Vance, protesters had accused Vance of protecting pedophiles.
Vance backed Trump’s stance, reportedly saying at the time, “The president has directed the attorney general to release all credible information and, frankly, to go and find additional credible information related to the Jeffrey Epstein case.”
Public Remarks in Scotland
Trump made the comments during a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland. When asked about the breakup with Epstein, Trump initially dismissed it, saying, “That’s such old history… I don’t want to waste your time, but later clarified that the issue stemmed from Epstein hiring staff that had worked for Trump.
The US President also denied recent claims about allegedly contributing a suggestive drawing to a Wall Street Journal story on birthday greeting letters Epstein had received, saying, “I don’t do drawings of women, that I can tell you,” as reported by the AP.
The controversy, which began during Trump’s first term as the US president, has continued to haunt the administration in his second term, with some allies initially fuelling conspiracy theories about Epstein’s death. The Department of Justice (DOJ) later confirmed that Epstein’s death was a case of suicide and declined to release more documents, despite promises from the Trump administration officials.
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