President Donald Trump rose to power shaping headlines and bending the will of others, but his response to widespread calls to see the Jeffrey Epstein files has been an unmitigated disaster. Shifting stories, conspiracy-laced excuses and sloppy deflections have kept the scandal alive for weeks.
Last week, Trump suggested that if his name appears in the Epstein files, it may have been planted. He also insisted he “never had the privilege” of visiting the disgraced financier’s private Caribbean island, and he offered yet another explanation for their falling out — saying Epstein “stole people that worked for me” at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida.
Even more bizarre, Trump said he has the legal authority to pardon Epstein ally Ghislaine Maxwell, just days after his former personal attorney,