Kellyanne Conway said Tuesday that President Donald Trump hasn’t spoken to billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein in “over a decade.”
“I talked to the president this morning. He hasn’t talked to or had contact with Epstein in years and years and years,” Conway said, according to The Hill.
No connection?
On Monday, Epstein pleaded not guilty to charges of abusing “dozens” of underage girls at his estates in New York, Palm Beach, and elsewhere — and paying his victims to recruit minor girls for him to prey upon, according to the Washington Examiner. Prosecutors in New York reportedly found nude pictures of underage girls in his Manhattan mansion.
The new Epstein case has revived speculation about what, if anything, his powerful friends knew about his crimes. Some have scrutinized Trump over the president’s past social relationship with Epstein, as well as the role played by now-Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta in a previous Epstein case. Acosta was one of the prosecutors who arranged a “sweetheart deal” in 2008 in which Epstein went to prison for little over a year for allegedly abusing dozens of underage girls.
President Trump is a former neighbor of Epstein, who has a mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, and the two apparently moved in the same social circles at some time in the past. On Tuesday, Trump described Epstein as a “fixture” of the Palm Beach social scene and denied having any relationship with him in years.
“I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him. I mean, people in Palm Beach knew him,” Trump said. “He was a fixture in Palm Beach. I had a falling out with him a long time ago. I don’t think I’ve spoken to him for 15 years. I wasn’t a fan.”
However, Trump critics have zeroed in on other comments by Trump, including a remark in 2002 — more than 15 years ago — that Epstein was a “terrific guy” who “likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.” It’s not clear what Trump meant by “falling out,” but he reportedly banished Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida after the convicted sex offender sexually abused an underage girl there, according to an attorney who represented some of Epstein’s victims.
President Trump may have also flown on Epstein’s private jet, the “Lolita Express,” once, according to court documents. A businessman and former associate of Trump claims that Trump hosted a “calendar girl” party in 1992 at Mar-a-Lago with just Trump, Epstein, and 28 women, Business Insider reports.
Political football
Epstein has been accused of abusing and trafficking dozens of underage girls at his various estates in New York, Florida, and other locations, including a notorious private island in the Caribbean. The Epstein case has become a political football because of the billionaire’s connections with members of both major political parties.
While Trump critics have focused on an alleged connection between Epstein and the current president, others have speculated about his relationship with former President Bill Clinton and other Democrats. On Saturday, Christine Pelosi, daughter of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), ominously warned that “some of our faves” may be implicated in the case.
On Monday, Clinton denied knowing anything about Epstein’s crimes or visiting “Orgy Island.” According to flight logs, Clinton flew on Epstein’s jet 26 times. In 2015, Trump told Sean Hannity that Clinton had “problems” on the horizon over his Epstein connection.
“Nice guy — uh, got a lot of problems coming up, in my opinion, with the famous island, with Jeffrey Epstein,” Trump told Hannity.
Meanwhile, both Trump and Conway have defended Acosta over his controversial role in the 2008 case against Epstein, which Democrats have used as an opportunity to attack Trump. Democrats including Pelosi have called on Acosta to resign and criticized Trump for hiring him, according to the Associated Press. Conway accused Pelosi of diverting attention from Epstein and blaming Trump instead for political reasons.
“It’s classic Pelosi and her Democratic party to not focus on the perpetrator at hand and instead focus on a member of the Trump administration,” Conway said, according to The Hill. “They’re so obsessed with the president that they immediately go to Alex Acosta.”
Some on the left also implicated Trump in Epstein’s crimes Tuesday by speculating that Trump ordered Attorney General William Barr to not recuse himself from the new Epstein case. Barr originally said Monday he would recuse himself because Epstein was represented in his 2008 case by lawyers from Barr’s former law firm, but the attorney general changed course Tuesday.
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