Trump's aides reportedly knew he would get drawn into Epstein conspiracy theories
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
No surprise here.
President Trump retweeted a conspiracy theory Saturday evening alleging without evidence that former President Bill Clinton was in some way connected to the death of millionaire financier and alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, and his aides saw it coming from a mile away, The Daily Beast reports.
Epstein's death was ruled a suicide after he was found dead in his prison cell on Saturday morning, but it has sparked several conspiracy theories already, most centered on foul play, which the FBI has said it has no indication of.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
But Trump's apparently on board. The president retweeted a post by comedian and conservative commentator Terrance K. Williams that contained a video of Williams arguing that "somebody got paid not to do" their job, deeming it incomprehensible as to how someone on suicide watch would be able to harm themselves. At the time of his death, however, Epstein was no longer on suicide watch.
Trump's advisers were reportedly expecting the president to dive into the conspiracy theories. One White House official told The Daily Beast that they assumed the president would say or tweet something about Clinton-centric conspiracies as soon as they started filtering out onto the internet, including from longtime Trump ally and Department of Housing and Urban Development official Lynne Patton. The general consensus among his advisers, however, is that there's nothing they can do about it until he grows bored and moves on to something else. Read more at The Daily Beast.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
Democrats seek calm and counterprogramming ahead of SOTUIN THE SPOTLIGHT How does the party out of power plan to mark the president’s first State of the Union speech of his second term? It’s still figuring that out.
-
Climate change is creating more dangerous avalanchesThe Explainer Several major ones have recently occurred
-
What’s TrumpRx and who is it for?The Explainer The new drug-pricing site is designed to help uninsured Americans
-
Trump’s tariff loss at Supreme Court roils tradeSpeed Read The court ruled that President Donald Trump’s most sweeping tariffs were unlawful
-
Labor secretary’s husband barred amid assault probeSpeed Read Shawn DeRemer, the husband of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, has been accused of sexual assault
-
Trump touts pledges at 1st Board of Peace meetingSpeed Read At the inaugural meeting, the president announced nine countries have agreed to pledge a combined $7 billion for a Gaza relief package
-
NIH director Bhattacharya tapped as acting CDC headSpeed Read Jay Bhattacharya, a critic of the CDC’s Covid-19 response, will now lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
-
Witkoff and Kushner tackle Ukraine, Iran in GenevaSpeed Read Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held negotiations aimed at securing a nuclear deal with Iran and an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine
-
Pentagon spokesperson forced out as DHS’s resignsSpeed Read Senior military adviser Col. David Butler was fired by Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin is resigning
-
Judge orders Washington slavery exhibit restoredSpeed Read The Trump administration took down displays about slavery at the President’s House Site in Philadelphia
-
Hyatt chair joins growing list of Epstein files losersSpeed Read Thomas Pritzker stepped down as executive chair of the Hyatt Hotels Corporation over his ties with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell
