President Donald Trump on Friday requested the media to put a stop to questioning his purported connections to deceased financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and focus instead on former President Bill Clinton.
Addressing journalists outside the White House before he left for Scotland—where he owns several golf courses—Trump again denied accusations of involvement with Epstein or his notorious private island, Little St. James.
"You should be talking about Bill Clinton. Who was on the island 28 times. I never went to the island," Trump stated, brushing aside renewed questions about his association with the Epstein scandal.
When questioned regarding a claimed letter to Epstein with his signature, Trump replied hesitantly, stating, "Now, anybody can have written the letter and signed my name. That's happened a lot."
More controversy clouds the name of Todd Blanche, Trump's past criminal defense lawyer and present Deputy Attorney General. According to reported conversations, Blanche has met with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's past girlfriend and convicted co-conspirator, now serving 20 years in Florida for her involvement in trafficking and grooming underage girls for Epstein.
Blanche's meetings with Maxwell are thought to be part of an overall move to meet the growing concerns among Trump's base that there has been too little public access to materials in Epstein's case. The president claimed not to have been personally involved in the discussions. "I don't know much about Maxwell's talks with Blanche," Trump stated, but added, "I trust him as a professional lawyer.
Shifting attention away from himself, Trump doubled down on calling for other prominent persons to be investigated. "You should investigate Clinton. You should investigate the president of Harvard, the previous president of Harvard. He should investigate some of the hedge fund guys — I'll give you a list," he said.
When asked whether he would pardon Maxwell, Trump stated that although he could legally do so, it was not something he had considered. "I'm allowed to do it, but it's something I haven't thought about," he said.
Earlier this month, Trump brushed aside reports that his name was mentioned in any legal documents related to Epstein, and went further still, accusing a number of political leaders of creating the scandal. He claimed that erstwhile presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and former FBI Director James Comey, had "made up" the Epstein Files.
