Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki quickly retracted a statement during her Thursday segment that appeared to include President Donald Trump among the “predators” named in documents related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The exchange took place on her program, “The Briefing with Jen Psaki,” while discussing the recent release of emails by House Democrats. The documents included an email where Epstein allegedly claimed Trump was aware of his conduct and even sat in a room with a victim.
After saying, “You’re talking about the other predators out there, right, in addition to Trump,” Psaki immediately walked back the implication.
“And I’m not saying he is, we don’t know all the details on that,” Psaki clarified. “I’m just saying in addition to what we’ve learned about Epstein and others, there are other predators out there.”
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Context of the Documents
The discussion follows the release of certain Epstein documents. Notably, the documents containing Epstein’s emails redacted the name of Virginia Giuffre. Giuffre has previously stated in 2011 that Trump did not engage in any sexual acts with Epstein’s victims during her time with him. Multiple other victims of Epstein also told NBC News in September that they never witnessed or heard about Trump doing anything illegal during his friendship with Epstein.
Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s business partner, stated in a July 24 deposition that Trump was a “gentleman in all respects” and denied witnessing any inappropriate behavior from him.
Trump, speaking to reporters on July 29, stated he ended his friendship with Epstein after the sex offender “stole” female staffers from Mar-a-Lago, which he believed included Giuffre.
Political Reactions and Next Steps
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt characterized the emails as being “selectively leaked” by Democrats “to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump.”
Separately, a discharge petition has garnered enough signatures to force House Speaker Mike Johnson to hold a vote on the full release of the Epstein files. Republican Representatives Thomas Massie, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Nancy Mace, and Lauren Boebert are among those who signed the petition and publicly committed to voting for the files’ release.
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