Trump told of ‘some great times’ with Epstein: Clinton
Bill Clinton says US President Donald Trump told him he “had a great time” with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein before their relationship soured.
The former Democratic president made the allegation under oath in a videotaped deposition before the House Oversight Committee that was released on Monday last week.
Clinton said Trump brought up Epstein at a golf tournament in 2002 or 2003, after Clinton left office and more than a decade before Trump was elected president.
“Somehow he knew I was flying on Jeffrey Epstein’s plane,” Clinton told the committee.
“‘We had great times together over the years, but we fell out over a real estate deal,’ he said.”
Trump said the relationship soured after Epstein recruited young women who worked at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club.
Clinton said the conversation did not lead her to believe Trump was involved in anything inappropriate regarding Epstein.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Both Clinton and Trump were involved with Epstein before the well-connected financier pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008.
Both have repeatedly said they have seen no evidence of sex trafficking, and neither has been charged by authorities with criminal activity linked to Epstein, who hosted a long list of business and financial leaders at his luxury residences in New York, Florida and the Caribbean.
Epstein was arrested again in 2019 and died in prison while facing federal sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.
Under Trump, the Justice Department released millions of records of its investigations into Epstein, including photos of Clinton with women whose faces had been redacted.
Clinton has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and said she regrets her relationship with Epstein.
In her testimony last week, Clinton said she was introduced to Epstein by former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. Summers described Epstein as a donor willing to fly Clinton and her team around the world while establishing an AIDS foundation.
Clinton said she flew to Asia, Africa and Europe on Epstein’s jet, and once from Florida to New York, but moved on to other donors after 2003.
“I thought Mr. Epstein was an interesting guy, but I didn’t think he was really interested in what I was doing,” Clinton said.
Clinton said she never had sexual intercourse with anyone introduced by the late financier or his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, but did receive a neck massage from a flight attendant who was later identified as a survivor of Epstein abuse.
Clinton said she did not know that Epstein was abusing the girls he hired as masseuses.
“I didn’t think anything was out of the ordinary. I can’t tell you how many planes I’ve been on where rich people asked me to go and someone offered a massage,” he said.
“All the boats you go on and all of them do that. And usually I don’t do that,” he said.
Clinton said she never visited the Caribbean island and was unaware that Epstein visited the White House 17 times during his 1993-2001 presidency.
The Republican-led panel also subpoenaed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who testified last week that she did not remember meeting Epstein.
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