Trump and Jeffrey Epstein
Donald Trump has said he would have “no problem” releasing more files related to convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein if he returns to the White House.
Asked why a so-called “list of clients” who had visited Epstein’s private island had not yet been made public, Trump said it “probably will be”.
Scores of names associated with Epstein were made public this year when a tranche of court documents were unsealed by a judge in New York. Public figures including the Duke of York, Bill Clinton, the former US president, and Trump himself were among those named in the files released in January.
Many names in the documents were mentioned in passing and their inclusion does not suggest wrongdoing related to Epstein.
Asked by Lex Fridman, the computer scientist turned podcaster, why he had “hesitation” about the documents being released, Trump, 78, said: “I don’t think… I’m not involved. I never went to his island, fortunately, but a lot of people did.”
Pressed on why “so many smart, powerful people allowed him [Epstein] to get so close”, Trump, the former US president, replied: “He was a good salesman. He was a hailing, hearty type of guy.
“He had some nice assets that he’d throw around like islands, but a lot of big people went to that island. But fortunately, I was not one of them.”
Mr Fridman said it was “very strange” that a “list of clients” who visited Epstein’s island – Little Saint James in the US Virgin Islands – had not been made public.
“It’s very interesting, isn’t it? It probably will be, by the way, probably”, Trump said, before adding that he’d “certainly take a look at it”.
He added: “Now, [John F] Kennedy’s interesting because it’s so many years ago.
“They do that for danger too, because it endangers certain people... so Kennedy is very different from the Epstein thing but I’d be inclined to do the Epstein. I’d have no problem with it.”
The documents released in January included depositions, police reports and emails related to a 2015 defamation case.
The unsealed files did not include a list of clients and it is not clear whether such a document exists.
Some parts of the Epstein documents remained redacted including those identifying victims abused by the convicted paedophile.
Epstein committed suicide aged 66 at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, in Manhattan, in August 2019 while awaiting trial on new charges of trafficking teenage girls.
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