Hosts of ABC’s “The View” called attention to President Donald Trump’s decision to include disgraced Hollywood director Brett Ratner in his China delegation, even though he was named in the files on Jeffrey Epstein.
During Friday’s program, co-host Joy Behar noted that Epstein was still “looming large over this administration” after survivors participated in a Capitol Hill hearing this week.
“This story’s not going away so fast, no matter how much they would like it to,” she insisted.
“There’s something I want to shed light on because it’s really bothered me this week and it’s been grossly underreported,” co-host Ana Navarro said. “So as we know, Trump is in China, and he’s had a delegation of U.S. business leaders with him. And among the people in that delegation, the official U.S. delegation is Brett Ratner.”
“Now, Brett Ratner is a director and producer who was featured prominently in the Epstein files,” she continued. “There’s at least two pictures of him with Epstein in the files that have been released so far. There were incredibly disturbing, serious allegations against him of sexually predatory acts. He was basically banished from Hollywood back in 2017 during the #MeToo movement.”
Navarro lamented that Ratner was “being rehabilitated” thanks to his relationship with the president.
“Now, he denies all of these allegations. He’s not been convicted of a crime,” she admitted. “He’s never been brought to a hearing to testify and asked questions.”
“But I find it appalling and horrifying that at the same time, Epstein victims are crying, giving their testimony, a man who is featured in those files, a man who Hollywood canceled for sexual predatory allegations, is part of the U.S. official delegation traveling with the president of the United States to China,” Navarro added. “That is gross.”
Ratner — fresh off his Melania Trump documentary comeback — recently tried to distance himself from Epstein after surfacing in the disgraced sex offender’s newly released DOJ files, insisting to Fox News that “I didn’t have a personal relationship with him. I didn’t know him.”
While Ratner claims he only met Epstein once at an event roughly 20 years ago, where he was photographed embracing his then-fiancée, emails from 2010 show Epstein actively trying to seek out Ratner’s contact information through his assistant, a 2012 email has Epstein name-dropping from Cannes that he was “sitting next to Brett Ratner” and that “Brett says hi and he loves you,” and a 2018 iMessage shows Epstein telling an unidentified recipient, “Hi, I’m Jeffrey. Brett Ratner thought we should meet” — a trail of breadcrumbs that raises eyebrows despite the absence of any evidence, Ratner responded. “You get thrown into these things,” Ratner told Fox News. “It’s crazy. It’s horrible.”
The Rush Hour director, who is also making his Hollywood return after being accused of sexual misconduct during the height of #MeToo in 2017 — allegations he has denied — saw his Melania film earn $7 million in its opening weekend despite savage reviews. However, a spokesperson declined further comment on the Epstein connections.
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