As the Trump administration keeps the Epstein files tight to its chest (the documents reportedly contain numerous redacted mentions of Trump), media appearances by victims of the notorious late pedophile have hampered the president’s hopes of redirecting the public eye anywhere but on his former friend Jeffrey Epstein.
A vexed Trump, Rolling Stone reports, has privately taken to calling some survivors of Epstein’s abuse “Democrats,” suggesting they may be trying to sully his reputation for political purposes.
Citing two sources familiar with the president’s private remarks, Rolling Stone reported Thursday that Trump has, behind closed doors, repeatedly taken issue with such media appearances, claiming that some of the victims “are just trying to make him look bad, or implying that he did something wrong during his time as one of Epstein’s friends and party companions.”
The president has reportedly claimed that some speaking out are “clearly of a ‘Democrat’ political affiliation,” even floating the idea that some could be in cahoots with “prominent liberal attorneys or groups.”
The magazine did not name specific people about whom the president has reportedly complained. However, several of Epstein’s accusers, named and anonymous, as well as victims’ relatives, have vocally criticized the administration’s bungling of the Epstein case as of late.
This has, per CNN, posed “a growing political threat to Trump,” whose approach to the scandal has reflected a concern for “ending a political problem” over “alleviating any further agony” for those affected by Epstein and his convicted co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell (whom Trump conspicuously hasn’t ruled out pardoning, raising concerns that he may corruptly grant her clemency in exchange for clearing his name of Epstein-related wrongdoing).
Trump’s White House vehemently denied Rolling Stone’s story, with a spokesperson insisting that “none of [it] is true.”
The reported remarks, however, would be consistent with the president’s tendency to try positing conspiracies in order to remove political thorns from his side—as seen at the outset of the scandal, when Trump’s knee-jerk reaction was to dismiss the Epstein issue, once a MAGA cause célèbre, as a Democratic hoax.
The post Report: Trump Is Privately Bashing Epstein Victims appeared first on New Republic.
