Jeffrey Epstein's Brother: ‘Trump Is Trying to Cover His Butt'
Speaking on CNN's Erin Burnett OutFront on Tuesday, Mark Epstein shut down Trump's repeated claims he ended his friendship with the convicted sex offender. CNN played footage of Trump claiming in 2019 that he 'was not a fan' of the financier, that he 'did not want anything to do with him' and had no respect for him.
More recently, Trump has attempted to sway a growing MAGA upheaval over the release of the Epstein files, on Tuesday claiming on Truth Social, 'We had the Greatest Six Months of any President in the History of our Country, and all the Fake News wants to talk about is the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax!'
Mark later told Burnett that the president is 'trying to cover his butt.'
'I mean, look, I understand people trying to distance themselves from Jeffrey because of what he was charged with and the circumstances he found himself in. I understand that, you know, but I know that they were good friends and I witnessed it myself.'
Mark recalled being in a plane with his brother and Trump in 1999 when the now-president made a crude joke about his sexual history.
'Jeffrey used to sometimes tell me things that Donald said that were funny. I was talking to Jeffrey, and he told me that he was talking to Donald, and he asked Donald, 'How come you sleep with so many married women?''
Epstein continued, 'And Donald's answer was, 'Because it's so wrong'. Now, amongst guys, it was a funny line. Then when we were on the plane a week or two later, Jeffrey asked Donald the same question. I know he did that for my benefit so that I could hear Donald say it. And Jeffrey asked him, 'How come you sleep with so many married women?' and Donald said, 'Because it's so wrong.''
Mark said the lewd joke demonstrated how close the pair were.
'For Jeffrey to ask him that question, he would have to know that Donald slept with a lot of married women. And he probably got that information from Donald. That's not the kind of question you ask a casual acquaintance. That's a question you ask a good friend that you can get away with asking those kind of questions. So that gives you an idea of how friendly they were.'
Epstein's brother also claimed Trump was not being honest about a CNN interview with Epstein victim Maria Farmer on Tuesday where she recalled meeting Donald Trump in Jeffrey Epstein's office in 1995.
Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, slammed Farmer's story of her meeting with Trump in Epstein's office.
In a statement to CNN, Cheung said, 'The President was never in Epstein's office, and in fact, the President kicked him out of his club for being a creep.'
However, Mark said staff who worked for his brother could vouch for Trump's presence in the office.
'That's just another blatant lie because he was there. The people that worked for Jeffrey in his office... they can testify that they saw Trump in Jeffrey's office on numerous occasions. So for him to say he wasn't there, all I can say is that is just another lie.'
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment on Mark Epstein's claims.
Mark said he and his late brother were 'always in contact,' but he did not know the extent of his sibling's criminal behavior until a meeting in 2006.
He recalled, 'That's when he told me that he was getting in trouble for being with girls that were too young. He said he was stupid, but he wanted me to hear it from him as opposed to hearing it on the news or something.'
He also considers his brother's death to be 'unsolved,' despite FBI investigations finding that he took his own life in jail in 2019.
Mark said he does not accept the FBI findings, and that as next of kin, he had to identify the body the day after his brother died. He said as well as the city's doctor, the family had their own pathologist at the autopsy.
'They came out of the autopsy a couple hours later and they both concurred that they could not call this a suicide because it looked too much like a homicide. They were very clear about that.'
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