Yesterday a reporter asked Trump about accused underage sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell and he replied:
Note the tone in Trump’s voice. It’s how he sounds when he knows his lie is treading on very dangerous, personal territory. Here are some other examples:
Listen to how he sounds when he’s talking about Paul Manafort in the second tweet below:
Here’s an earlier remark about Prince Andrew in which he can’t find it in himself to condemn him:
That’s the tone when he knows this is dangerous territory. Here he is when he feels free to sound like he’s in the know. Newly unearthed tape of Trump talking about Prince Andrew and Epstein back in 2015:
Meanwhile, here’s footage of Trump partying with Epstein:
Trump is lying about his relationship with Epstein and Prince Andrew. Obviously.
As for Ghislaine Maxwell, Vanity Fair reported:
“I don’t know,” he shrugged, after a reporter asked whether he thought Maxwell would reveal which powerful men were involved in Epstein’s trafficking ring. “I haven’t really been following it too much. I just wish her well, frankly.”
“I’ve met her numerous times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach, and I guess they lived in Palm Beach, but I wish her well,” he continued. “Whatever it is.”
[…]
And while the remarks were a rich sound bite for those who’ve been tracing out Maxwell and Epstein’s associations in all their still-emerging detail, they were also a reminder of their history with Trump that’s already known. The Palm Beach milieu that Trump mentioned was the occasion for his early relationship with Epstein: as the New York Times pointed out, he told reporters at the White House last July that he knew Epstein “like everybody in Palm Beach knew him.” The paper reported last year that Trump and Epstein hosted a party at Mar-a-Lago in 1992 with a guest list comprising the two of them and “28 girls.” The Florida businessman George Houraney told the Times that he organized the event and told Trump, “Look, Donald, I know Jeff really well, I can’t have him going after younger girls.” Houraney said Trump dismissed the warning.
“I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with,” Trump told New York magazine in 2002. “It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it—Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”
Last year, though, after Epstein was arrested, Trump told reporters, “I had a falling-out with him. I haven’t spoken to him in 15 years. I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you.” The full nature and timing of any conflict still isn’t clear, but Trump called Epstein’s private Caribbean island an “absolute cesspool” in 2015 and told reporters to ask Andrew about it.
Photos of Trump with Epstein and Maxwell continue to circulate, especially in recent weeks since Maxwell’s arrest.
But Trump’s comments yesterday brought other things to mind, specifically Trump’s assurances to Roger Stone and ultimate commutation. It’s pretty clear that Stone put the squeeze on Trump and Trump knew he had to deliver. It’s not hard to see his comments yesterday as similar in tone.
A Justice Department prosecutor told Politico, “in the aftermath of the Stone pardon, it reeks of the president indicating to her that he might reward her if she’ll stay silent about whatever she knows about him.”
Of course that’s what he was doing.