Donald Trump’s alleged ties to Jeffrey Epstein have come under scrutiny again after the former president’s son, Donald Trump Jr. , said on Saturday that his father was not on a list of other people connected to the defeated sex offender.
Epstein indicted in 2019 for operating a sex trafficking ring involving underage women after Virginia Roberts Giuffre alleged he abused her as a minor. Giuffre alleged that Epstein’s girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, contributed to the abuse. Epstein discovered dead in his criminal mobile in August 2019 whilst awaiting trial. Maxwell convicted in 2021 of luring teenage women to be sexually abused through Epstein and sentenced to 20 years in criminal.
Trump and Epstein had a planned friendship and the real estate mogul had flown on their planes in the past, according to flight records. Trump was among the names indexed in documents revealed in the settled case released in January. The documents include emails and transcripts of depositions related to the now-resolved case filed through Giuffre.
The other people named in the documents are not necessarily accused of wrongdoing and Trump has not been linked to any crimes committed through Epstein or Maxwell.
Newsweek reached out to a Trump representative via email outside of general business hours for comment on this story.
In a Saturday article on X, formerly Twitter, Donald Trump Jr. said his father is not on “Epstein’s list. “
He wrote: “Do you know who is on Epstein’s list? My father. . . Because if he was, it would have been leaked in about a split second!!! That’s a fact!”
The presumptive Republican presidential candidate told New York Magazine in 2002 that he had known Epstein for 15 years and that he was a “great guy. ” Trump also flew aboard Epstein’s plane on several occasions, although he distanced himself from his comments following the financier’s arrest and said they had not spoken in 15 years.
As part of 40 documents redacted earlier in the settled case released in January, a statement from Johanna Sjoberg says she traveled from Florida to Atlantic City with Epstein and went to one of Trump’s casinos.
Reacting to the documents, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung then told Newsweek: “These baseless allegations have been completely retracted because they are simply false and baseless. “
Do you know who is on Epstein’s list? My dad…because if he had been, he would have gone down in about a split second!!!! It is a fact! https://t. co/PEb15Dn33U
“Jeffrey said, ‘Great, we stopped by to call Trump and we stopped by to go to the casino’ – I still don’t know the casino call – ‘we stopped by to call the casino,'” Sjoberg said, according to his testimony.
While in Atlantic City, they visited one of Trump’s casinos, according to Sjoberg, who said Giuffre was not allowed inside because she was a minor.
Later, when asked if he had ever given Trump a massage, Sjoberg replied twice that he had.
Trump flew aboard Epstein’s plane four times in 1993, as well as once in 1994, 1995 and 1997, according to flight logs made public in 2021. The flights were made between the airports of Palm Beach, Florida, and New York, and the 1994 flight made a stopover. . at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
In an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson earlier this year, Trump said the convicted sex offender and alleged sex trafficker had been “a must see” in Palm Beach, Florida, and had had a “good time. ” ” before his crimes were discovered. .
Kate Plummer is a Newsweek journalist founded in London, United Kingdom. She focuses on United States politics and domestic affairs and is primarily interested in the effect of social policy decisions on other people, as well as political campaign finances, corruption, and foreign policy toward democracy. procedure and more. Prior to joining Newsweek, he covered British politics extensively. Kate joined Newsweek in 2023 after leaving The Independent and has also been featured in several publications, including The Times and Daily Mail. He holds a B. A. in History from Oxford University and a Master’s degree in Magazine Journalism from the City, University of London.
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You can contact Kate by emailing k. plummer@newsweek. com or following her on X at @kateeplummer.
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