Trump struggles to put lid on the ‘Jeffrey Epstein SCAM,' a controversy his allies once fuelled

Edmonton Journal

4 days ago

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Despite the sun bearing down on him and the sweat beading across his face, President Donald Trump still lingered with reporters lined up outside the White House on Friday. He was leaving on a trip to Scotland, where he would visit his golf courses, and he wanted to talk about how his administration just finished 'the best six months ever.'
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But over and over, the journalists kept asking Trump about the Jeffrey Epstein case and whether he would pardon the disgraced financier's imprisoned accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.
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'People should really focus on how well the country is doing,' Trump insisted. He shut down another question by saying, 'I don't want to talk about that.'
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It was another example of how the Epstein saga — and his administration's disjointed approach to it — has shadowed Trump when he's otherwise at the height of his influence. He's enacted a vast legislative agenda, reached trade deals with a few key countries and tightened his grip across the federal government. Yet he's struggled to stamp out the embers of a political crisis that could become a full-on conflagration.
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The Republican president's supporters want the government to release secret files about Epstein, who authorities say killed himself in his New York jail cell six years ago while awaiting trial for sex trafficking. They believe him to be the nexus of a dark web of powerful people who abused underage girls. Administration officials who once stoked conspiracy theories now insist there's nothing more to disclose, a stance that has stirred skepticism because of Trump's former friendship with Epstein.
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Trump has repeatedly denied prior knowledge of Epstein's crimes and claimed he cut off their relationship long ago. For a president skilled at manipulating the media and controlling the Republican Party, it has been the most challenging test of his ability to shift the conversation in his second term.
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Landing in Scotland offered no refuge for Trump. He faced another round of questions after stepping off Air Force One. 'You're making a big thing over something that's not a big thing,' he said to one reporter. He told another, 'I'm focused on making deals, not on conspiracy theories that you are.'
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Republican strategist Kevin Madden called the controversy 'a treadmill to nowhere.'
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'How do you get off of it?' he said. 'I genuinely don't know the answer to that.'
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Trump has demanded his supporters drop the matter and urged Republicans to block Democratic requests for documents on Capitol Hill. But he has also directed the Justice Department to divulge some additional information in hopes of satisfying his supporters.