In an interview with Axios on HBO that aired Monday night, Donald Trump was asked why he wished Ghislaine Maxwell well during a coronavirus briefing two weeks ago. The British socialite and alleged Jeffrey Epstein accomplice pleaded not guilty to charges of perjury and trafficking minors in Epstein’s sex abuse ring, and she is being held without bail at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center. She and Trump have been photographed together over their years of traveling in the same New York and Palm Beach social circles, and Epstein and Trump’s long relationship is well documented.
“Well, first of all, you don’t know that,” Trump said about the allegations against Maxwell, who once dated Epstein.
“Her friend or boyfriend was either killed or committed suicide,” Trump continued. “She’s now in jail. Yeah, I wish her well. I’d wish you well. I’d wish a lot of people well. Good luck. Let them prove somebody was guilty.”
The idea that Epstein Didn’t Kill Himself has appeared just about everywhere besides official accounts. New York City’s medical examiner ruled his death a suicide, and Trump’s attorney general, William Barr, called it one as well. But Trump suggested that it remains an open question, telling Axios, “Her boyfriend died in jail, and people are still trying to figure out, how did it happen? Was it suicide? Was he killed? And I do wish her well. I’m not looking for anything bad for her.”
All told, this was a third attempt at publicly explaining Trump’s views on Epstein and Maxwell following her arrest last month, none much more convincing than the one before. After the president’s remarks at the briefing, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told Fox News, “What the president was noting is that the last person who was charged in this case ended up dead in a jail cell, and the president wants justice to be served for the victims in this case, and he prefers this to play out in a courtroom.”
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