President Trump has wrestled for weeks with escalating discontent among some of his most loyal supporters over his administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Since taking office, top Justice Department officials had promised to release revealing documents on Mr. Epstein, a registered sex offender awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges before his death in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019. But in July, the agency essentially reversed course, stating that “no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted” and dismissing theories that Mr. Epstein kept a client list of prominent figures to whom he had supplied young women. The about-face incited anger and disbelief among those supporters of Mr. Trump who have long been fascinated by the case.
While Mr. Trump himself socialized with Mr. Epstein decades earlier, they had a falling out in the 2000s and there is no public evidence that the president was involved in any of Mr. Epstein’s illegal activities.
Nonetheless, Mr. Trump has ignored questions about Mr. Epstein and the ensuing fallout. He has brushed off the whole matter as a “hoax” without elaborating. And he has tried to divert attention to a host of other topics. But in a few instances, the president did address questions over the files, his relationship with Mr. Epstein and his handling of the matter.
Here’s an assessment of some of his defenses.
Attacking Political Opponents
What Was Said
False. The various investigations into Mr. Epstein did not occur under the tenures of James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director, President Barack Obama or President Joseph R. Biden Jr. And what Mr. Trump meant in characterizing the files as “made up” by Mr. Comey and Mr. Trump’s Democratic predecessors is not exactly clear. But the Justice Department, in declining to release additional files, stated in an unsigned memo last month that the federal government held a trove of material — 300 gigabytes of records and physical evidence — related to the investigations.
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