Alwaght- One of Donald Trump's extraordinary abilities is his instinct for lying when he feels he is in a tight spot. His experience in undergoing over 4,000 legal cases and countless scandals have made lying super easy for the US president.
As Epstein scandal files come out to further sink him in a legal case, Trump is struggling to clear himself of any relations to the sexual criminal's case. But while his name is mentioned over 38,000 times, can Trump really clear himself of the Epstein’s case.
The latest release of documents from the Jeffrey Epstein case includes over 3 million pages of records, tens of thousands of emails, and videos, but it still does not constitute the complete file . The Justice Department is legally required to release all documents, including unverified or disputed claims, but reports indicate that significant portions of the files have been withheld or redacted .
Amid the disclosure, Trump has pushed his own narrative regarding his connection to the case. He recently claimed in sharp terms that he stopped speaking to Jeffrey Epstein years ago because Epstein was engaging in inappropriate behavior. Trump has asserted that he banned Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club and cut all ties with him .
Trump's statements about the Epstein case appear aimed at defending himself, but they stand in stark contrast to documented historical facts. Three years after the date Trump claims he severed ties with Epstein, he sent the financier a lewd and sexually suggestive poem in 2003 to mark Epstein's 50th birthday, complete with a drawing of a nude woman . According to The Wall Street Journal, Trump wrote in the note: "We have certain things in common, Jeffrey... A pal is a wonderful thing."
Trump's contradictory narrative of the reason for cutting off ties with Epstein
According to the Washington Post, Trump's relationship with Epstein unraveled not in 2000 but in 2004 over competition for properties in Palm Beach, Florida. This contradicts Trumps claim suggesying that he cut off ties with Epstein for his immoral behavior and deeds.
Trump's partnership with Epstein
Trump and Epstein met for years with "young women," many of them underage. Court records and witness accounts released in the Epstein case have documented the 1992 "calendar girls" parties at Mar-a-Lago, where the two men allegedly paraded underage girls before guests .
The Miami Herald newspaper has reported that "American girls said Epstein enjoyed spending time backstage at beauty pageants and fashion shows with his Palm Beach and New York neighbor and friend, Donald Trump" .
Records suggest Trump himself ran three different beauty pageants. In a 2005 radio interview, he described going backstage: "You know they're standing there with no clothes. And you see these incredible looking women, and I sort of get away with things like that."
In 1999, Trump founded Trump Model Management, also known as T Models . The agency recruited girls as young as 14 with tourist visas, luring them with promises of fame and wealth. Once they arrived, they were paid minimum wage under what former model Rachel Blais described to American media as conditions resembling "modern-day slavery." Blais called it "the most crooked agency I've ever worked for, and I've worked for quite a few."
On the other side of the ledger, reports indicate Epstein was looking to launch a modeling agency of his own. He poached models from Trump's company and sought to replicate Trump's business model. Model Courtney Powell Sorensen told the Miami Herald: "Epstein needed to have his own evil people, and Brunel was Epstein's ideal person to create evil with." Records show that Brunel, who was accused of sexual abuse of models at his agency in 1988, lived in Trump Tower in New York during the 1990s . A model named Braden told the Miami Herald that she regularly saw Brunel, Epstein, and Trump together at parties in the early 1990s . Brunel was charged with rape in 2021 and died by suspected suicide in a French prison in 2022, roughly two years after Epstein's apparent suicide.
Also in the Epstein files, a note that appears to be from a Florida real estate investor includes a photo of Epstein holding a large check seemingly from Trump . The caption jokingly says Epstein sold a "fully depreciated" woman to Trump for $22,500.
Scandal of boastful president
Although the Epstein files contain the names of many of Trump's associates and friends, the broader scandal for Trump is amplified by his own self-proclaimed image. While he presents himself as a president with global leadership skills, his name is one of the most frequently mentioned in the Epstein sex trafficking case .
The documents abundantly detail the close relationship between Trump and Epstein, and they directly contradict Trump's narrative that he cut ties and was unaware of Epstein's activities. According to a Justice Department-released FBI document, a former Florida police chief stated that Donald Trump told him on the phone in 2006 that everyone knew about Epstein's activities .
The released document is a transcript of the FBI's 2019 interview with the former Palm Beach police chief, in which he claims Trump contacted him after the Justice Department began investigating Epstein. Trump allegedly said, "Thank goodness you're stopping him! Everyone knows he's been doing this" . Donald Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing regarding Epstein and has stated he was unaware of his crimes . In 2019, when Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges, reporters asked Donald Trump if he had previously had any "suspicions" about the disgraced financier. He replied, "No, I had no idea. I had no idea. I haven't spoken to him in many, many years" . However, this account from Trump has proven to be completely false .
In fact, Trump can neither deny participating in Epstein's sex trafficking operations nor claim ignorance of them. This leaves the international community facing a fundamental question: Can a man implicated in a sex trafficking ring credibly claim the mantle of world leadership?
