Titular
President Donald Trump said he broke ties with Jeffrey Epstein because Epstein repeatedly recruited his employees, the first time he mentions that reason for his distancing while seeking to move away from the sentenced sexual offender in the middle of a persistent saga that has led to a break with the Trump support base.
Key data
Trump said: “For years, I didn’t talk to Jeffrey Epstein” because “the people who worked for me were stolen,” the president told reporters on Monday during his visit to Scotland.
Previous reports have suggested that Trump prohibited Epstein’s entry to Mar-a-Lago after he did insinuations towards the teenage daughter of another member, and that both distanced themselves when Trump exceeded Epstein’s offer by a mansion in Palm Beach in 2004.
Trump gave this new reason why Epstein became a “non grata person” for him, just when the controversy continues for the decision of the Justice Department not to disseminate additional documents related to investigation into Epstein, which has brought again attention to Trump’s personal relationship with the tycoon.
On Monday, Trump also repeated an statement he made last week: that he never went to Epstein Island in the Caribbean, Little Saint James. He told the journalists that he was invited, but “rejected it,” and said – without presenting evidence – that former president Bill Clinton was there dozens of times, although Clinton has previously denied having visited the island.
Lee: Trump asks for a quick statement from Murdoch in the case of defamation of Epstein
Tangent
Ghislaine Maxwell, associate of Epstein, recruited Virginia Giuffre-Vítima de Epstein-to work as Personal Epstein masseuse in the year 2000, while Giuffre worked in Mar-A-Lago. Giuffre said that it was manipulated by Maxwell and Epstein to offer sexual services to Epstein and its circle of wealthy men, according to a affidavit that gave and that was made public in 2019.
Key event
“For years, I didn’t talk to Jeffrey Epstein … because he did something inappropriate,” Trump told journalists. “I stole people who worked for me. I said: ‘Don’t do that again.’ And he did again.” Epstein then became “non grata person,” Trump said.
Key history
Trump and Epstein became friends for the first time in the 80s, around the moment Trump bought Mar-a-lago, and were subsequently photographed together on multiple occasions until the early 2000s. Trump also appeared seven times in the flight records of the private jets of Epstein during the 90s, and told New York magazine in 2002 that Epstein was a “great type”, adding: adding: adding: adding: adding: adding: adding: adding: adding: adding: adding: “It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as me, and many of them are quite young.”
Previous reports have suggested that both distanced themselves because Trump exceeded Epstein’s offer for a mansion in Palm Beach in 2004, while a 2020 book, The Grifter’s ClubHe said Epstein was expelled from Mar-a-Lago for making insinuations towards a member’s teenage daughter.
Trump has been forced to defend his last relationship with Epstein amid the criticisms of his base after the decision of the Department of Justice, announced earlier this month, of not publishing additional documents related to the investigation of Epstein.
This article was originally published by Forbes US
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