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Fact-Checking Trump’s Epstein Defenses
In the face of mounting discontent over his administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, President Trump has turned to deflection, denial and downplaying.By
Videos by Jamie Leventhal
Reporting from Washington
- Aug. 14, 2025
President Trump has wrestled for weeks with escalating discontent among some of his most loyal supporters over .
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 , 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 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 . But in a few instances, the president did address questions over the files, his relationship with Mr. Epstein and his handling of the matter.
