On Tuesday, CNN shared new photos showing how close MAGA Republican President Donald Trump was to known sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein ran a sex trafficking ring for decades that included flights to a private island and exploited young women and underage girls.
In a phone interview, CNN asked Trump about the newly surfaced photos of Epstein's attendance at Trump's 1993 wedding to model and actress Marla Maples and footage from six years later at a 1999 Victoria’s Secret fashion event in New York.
Trump and Epstein are seen laughing and chatting together while awaiting the models in lingerie to hit the runway.
During the brief call with CNN on Tuesday, Trump responded:
"You’ve got to be kidding me."
The POTUS then repeatedly called CNN "fake news" before abruptly hanging up.
You can watch the moment here:
Trump campaigned in 2024 on a promise to release all information related to the DOJ case against Epstein.
The decision by Trump's Justice Department—under the leadership of Attorney General Pam Bondi—not to release those files caused outrage from some of Trump’s MAGA minions. In response, Trump's GOP allies in the House of Representatives voted on a measure to block the release of the files, creating further backlash.
Bondi, who was Attorney General of Florida since 2011, has also faced backlash for failing to bring Epstein—a Florida resident and registered sex offender after a 2008 conviction in the state—up on state charges for the crimes committed in Florida from 2011 until he was arrested on federal charges.
People across the political spectrum are over the obfuscation by Trump and his cronies regarding Epstein.
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In 2019, Epstein was in jail awaiting trial on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors.
Epstein was previously convicted in Florida of soliciting prostitution—a state felony charge—and procuring a minor to engage in prostitution—another state offense that required him to register as a sex offender—in 2008. He served only 13 months of an 18 month sentence in Palm Beach County jail where he was granted work-release privileges, allowing him to leave the jail almost daily to go to his office.
The sweetheart deal was negotiated by then United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Alex Acosta, who would become Trump's Secretary of Labor in 2017.
Epstein died while in the custody of Trump's Department of Justice (DOJ), under the leadership of Trump's Attorney General Bill Barr, on August 10, 2019.
The evidence the FBI and DOJ collected never made it into a courtroom and into the public record as a result.
Trump's Justice Department Inspector General ruled Epstein's death was a suicide by hanging.
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