Trump confronts media over Epstein scandal.
The Hill, an American website, wrote: Trump condemned the New York Times’ report on his close ties to Epstein in the case of the American financier’s illegal activities and his secret sex trafficking ring.
The US president wrote in a post on his social network Truth Social: “The failed New York Times and its lies and deliberate misrepresentations are a serious threat to our national security. Their radical leftist and crazed behavior and their fake articles and opinions must be confronted. They are the true enemy of the people. Thank you for your attention to this issue.”
Trump has vehemently denied all allegations of wrongdoing related to Epstein and last month signed a law requiring the release of all information about the disgraced financier’s estate.
Deputy Attorney General and former Trump personal lawyer Todd Blanch, who is involved in overseeing the release of the files, said the president’s demands would be included in the disclosure.
However, the Times report claims that the president’s closeness to Epstein has been described inappropriately.
Trump has tried to downplay his friendship with Epstein, but documents and interviews reveal a serious and complex relationship. The New York Times has used headlines such as “Chasing Women Was a Game of Selfishness and Dominance, and Women’s Bodies Were Money” in its articles.
The White House has been trying to downplay reports in the Times and other media outlets by creating a “media bias” tracker to identify narratives it claims are unfair or contain unbalanced reporting.
In October, Trump’s legal team also re-filed its lawsuit against the New York Times for “defamation.”
The Epstein scandal; Trump’s new standoff with the media
The move comes after a federal judge dismissed a previous complaint, saying it was too long and should be shortened.
The second round of revelations in the case has raised new questions about Trump’s narrative that he was willing to downplay his relationship with the notorious financier and sex offender. Epstein died of an apparent suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial.
The Justice Department has defended the president in a rare statement, saying some of the 30,000-page document, including allegations against Trump, contained “false and outrageous allegations” made to the FBI shortly before the 2020 US election. The department said the allegations were “baseless and false.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has asked the Justice Department to release details about “at least 10 possible associates of Jeffrey Epstein” it is monitoring and why they have not been prosecuted.
The newly released documents in the Epstein case have sparked a new controversy in the US political arena. The naming of famous names such as US President Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton has revealed new dimensions of government corruption in the United States and the revelations have also increased pressure on the media demanding the truth.
The new US Justice Department documents contain information about Trump’s presence on a flight with Epstein and a 20-year-old woman in the 1990s.
The US president has previously claimed that the New York Times and several of its reporters defamed him by “willfully ignoring the truth” in their coverage of him ahead of the 2024 election.
Trump’s initial complaint against the New York Times states: “These journalistic violations are increasingly evident, aided and abetted by the Times’s partisan effort to link Russian interference to Trump’s 2016 election victory, an effort that is rapidly becoming one of the most disturbing political criminal scandals in American history.”
The New York Times’ reports include material about memos that Trump allegedly gave to Epstein. The White House has called the matter “fabricated.”
Trump wrote on his social media account that the New York Times “has been blatantly lying and defaming him for a long time” and that this practice must stop.
Trump has filed a $15 billion defamation lawsuit against the New York Times.
The president has also sued the Wall Street Journal for $10 billion over an article that implicated him in a “slanderous” letter to Epstein.