‘You should really be looking at Bill Clinton not Jeffrey Epstein,' says Trump as pressure grows for release of files relating to late sex offender
Maxwell, who is currently serving a prison sentence in Florida, has been meeting with Todd Blanche, the president's ex-criminal defence attorney who now serves as the deputy attorney general. Mr Blanche has sought to defuse anger among Mr Trump's supporters over the failure to release documents from Epstein's case by interviewing his associate.
After Mr Trump replied that he did not know much about Maxwell's talks with Mr Blanche and stated that he's not currently considering a pardon, he was asked if the convicted criminal – who is alleged to have lied under oath on numerous occasions – could be trusted.
He told reporters that he trusts Mr Blanche as a 'professional lawyer'.
'You know, you should focus on Clinton. You should focus on the president of Harvard, the former president of Harvard. He should focus on some of the hedge-fund guys — I'll give you a list,' Mr Trump said.
He later said that while he is 'allowed' to pardon Maxwell, he hasn't considered doing so.
'I'm allowed to do it, but it's something I haven't thought about,' Mr Trump said.
Mr Blanche is expected to continue interviewing Maxwell at a federal courthouse in Tallahassee, Florida, near the federal prison where she is serving her 20-year sentence for sex trafficking.
Pressed further on what he hopes Mr Blanche will get from meeting with Maxwell, Mr Trump again attempted to deflect with talk of former presidents and the same former higher education officials.
'People should really focus on how well the country is doing, or they should focus on the fact that Barack Hussein Obama led a coup. Or they should focus on the fact that Larry Summers from Harvard, that Bill Clinton, who you know very well, and lots of other friends, really close friends, of… Jeffrey Epstein should be spoken about and they should speak about them, because they don't talk about them. They talk about me. I have nothing to do with the guy,' he said.
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'Todd is a great attorney, but you want to be speaking about Larry Summers. You ought to be speaking about some of his friends that are hedge-fund guys. They're all over the place. You ought to be speaking about Bill Clinton, who went to the island 28 times. I never went to the island. I don't even know what they're talking about.'
The case of Epstein, a former maths teacher turned financier who was arrested for alleged sex trafficking by federal authorities in 2019, has been a long-time fixation for many of Mr Trump's Maga supporters who believe they contain damaging information on prominent Democrats and other liberal celebrities.
For years, the president's supporters have pushed for the release of what they believe was a list of powerful people to whom Epstein is alleged to have trafficked young girls.
They also want the release of other information they believe would reflect negatively on members of the Democratic Party, various Hollywood celebrities, and other purported elites who they believe to be part of a sinister cabal controlling world events.
Mr Trump indicated during his 2024 campaign that his administration would release the documents in question if he were victorious in last year's presidential election.
The president was once closely associated with and spoke highly of the disgraced financier and his proclivity for surrounding himself with young women.
Epstein at one point described himself as Mr Trump's 'best friend', leading to speculation that the president has been trying to prevent the release of the files despite a campaign promise to do so because their content would reflect poorly on him.
Meanwhile, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen yesterday said she will meet Mr Trump in Scotland tomorrow to discuss trade relations between the EU and the US.
'Following a good call with @POTUS, we have agreed to meet in Scotland on Sunday to discuss transatlantic trade relations, and how we can keep them strong,' Ms von der Leyen said in a post on X.
Mr Trump yesterday said there was a 50-50 chance or perhaps less that the US would reach a trade agreement with the EU, saying Brussels wanted to 'make a deal very badly'.
The European Commission on Thursday said a negotiated trade solution was within reach, even as EU members voted to approve counter-tariffs on €93bn of US goods in case the talks collapse.
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