CNN WIRE — Trump questioned on Epstein relationship

By Betsy Klein, Alayna Treene, CNN

(CNN) — Dogged by questions on the Jeffrey Epstein scandal even from Scotland, President Donald Trump again sought to put distance between himself and the sex offender — offering one of his most thorough personal explanations to date on his former relationship with the disgraced financier.

While sitting next to a stone-faced British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump told reporters Monday that he never drew a woman in a reported raunchy birthday letter to Epstein, never visited his island, and that he cut ties with him after an “inappropriate” business dispute.

His extensive responses to reporters during the bilateral meeting starkly illustrated how Trump and White House officials have struggled to move on from Epstein, even during an international trip 3,000 miles from Washington.

The president has been frustrated by the constant attention given to the Epstein case, multiple Trump administration officials told CNN, complaining about what he feels is a narrative being fueled by Democrats and the media that he engaged in something nefarious. Since his Justice Department released an unsigned memo three weeks ago that says Epstein did kill himself and there’s no so-called client list of Epstein’s criminal associates, the blowback has been fierce and sustained — including from Trump’s MAGA base.

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung has repeatedly tried to shut down stories regarding the president’s former friendship with Epstein by calling them “fake news.”

Though he began with his characteristically dismissive remarks, Trump on Monday soon offered his most substantive pushback and description of his falling out with Epstein, which happened before Epstein’s initial criminal charges.

“For years, I wouldn’t talk to Jeffrey Epstein. I wouldn’t talk — because he did something that was inappropriate. He hired help, and I said, ‘Don’t ever do that again.’ He stole people that work for me. I said, ‘Don’t ever do that again.’ He did it again, and I threw him out of the place, persona non grata. I threw him out, and that was it. I’m glad I did,” he said.

Trump also disavowed a recent Wall Street Journal report about a 2003 birthday letter to Epstein that included Trump’s signature and an outline of a naked woman.

“I don’t do drawings. I’m not a drawing person. I don’t do drawings. Sometimes people would say, ‘Would you do a building?’ And I’ll draw four lines and a little roof, you know, for a charity. But I’m not a drawing person. I don’t do drawings of women — that I can tell you. They say there’s a drawing of a woman, and I don’t do drawings of women,” the president said, his lengthiest response on the matter since the story’s publication earlier this month.

The letter, according to the Wall Street Journal, included a drawing depicting a woman’s breasts and a “Donald” signature in the place of pubic hair, surrounded by several lines of typewritten text. Trump is suing the publication over the story, arguing the letter is a fake.

Additionally, Trump emphasized that he “never went to the island,” referring to Epstein’s private Caribbean island.

“I never had the privilege of going to his island, and I did turn it down. A lot of people in Palm Beach were invited to his island. In one of my very good moments, I turned it down. I didn’t want to go to his island,” he said.

Trump still expressed disinterest in the topic initially, telling a reporter that it was a “hoax that’s been built up way beyond proportion.” The president repeated his argument that if there was any incriminating or salacious information about his relationship with Epstein, Democrats “would have released it” by now.

Trump and Epstein’s relationship dates back to the 1980s and included regular appearances at social events. Attorney General Pam Bondi briefed Trump earlier this year that his name appears in files related to the Epstein case, though it was not clear in what context Trump’s name appeared in the files and he has not been accused of wrongdoing. Yet the conspiracy theories once fanned by the president and allies who now lead federal law enforcement agencies have prompted intensifying scrutiny.

Back in the US, Vice President JD Vance, who was among those previously calling for transparency around Epstein, also tried to distance the administration from the mounting fallout during a Monday appearance in Canton, Ohio. He praised Trump for his calls to release all “credible information,” cautioning that “some of that stuff takes time.” Instead, Vance took aim at former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, saying their administrations went “easy on” Epstein.

“If you want to criticize the people who aren’t showing full transparency, you ought to go after the administrations that went easy on Jeffrey Epstein, that concealed this case for 20 years, and the administrations that failed to show full transparency,” Vance said.

Under Bush, US Attorney Alex Acosta — who later served in Trump’s first administration as Labor secretary — reached a non-prosecution agreement with Epstein in 2007, allowing him to avoid federal charges. He only served 13 months in prison for state prostitution charges concerning his sexual involvement with underaged girls.

Trump has also tried to turn the focus on Obama, using a report by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to continuously accuse the former president of treason. Trump and Gabbard claim that the idea that Russia meddled in the 2016 election and that it favored Trump is a narrative pushed by Obama to undermine the now-president. The additional intelligence Gabbard has released does not undercut the assertion that Russia interfered in the election, and Obama’s office has called the claims “ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction.”

Meanwhile, White House officials remain exasperated that the focus on Epstein has drawn attention away from issues they deem more important. Three weeks after his administration released the Epstein memo, the president publicly lamented that he has been unable to move on from the subject.

“He’s gone. And we want to focus on trade deals. I want to focus on the deal we just made with the European Union, which is the biggest trade deal in history,” he said.

CNN’s Donald Judd contributed to this report.