Trump Dodges Epstein Questions, Blames Media When Pressed on Contradictory Statements

President Donald Trump is once again under fire — this time for fumbling questions about his past relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and offering conflicting reasons for their falling out.

While speaking with reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday, the president was pressed on why the White House and his own public comments didn’t align when it came to why Epstein was kicked out of Mar-a-Lago. Instead of offering a straight answer, Trump pivoted — and attacked the media.

Just a day earlier, Trump told reporters that Epstein was banned from his Palm Beach club because he “took people that worked for me.” But that contradicts a statement from the White House, which claimed Epstein was removed because he was “a creep.”

When asked about the discrepancy, Trump downplayed it. “Well, maybe they’re the same thing. You know, a little bit of the same thing,” he said. “No, he took people that worked for me, and I told him, don’t do it anymore, and he did it. I said, ‘stay the hell out of here.’”

The line of questioning didn’t sit well with the president. When an NBC News reporter pressed him further — asking if this is what the administration meant by Epstein being a creep — Trump lashed out, calling NBC “one of the worst” before abruptly moving on.

Later in the same session, a separate reporter asked if the employees Epstein allegedly poached were young women. Trump hesitated before responding, “Well, I don’t want to say, but everyone knows the people that were taken.”

He then confirmed it, saying Epstein hired young women who worked in Mar-a-Lago’s spa. “I have a great spa, one of the best spas in the world at Mar-a-Lago,” Trump said. “And people were taken out of the spa. Hired by him. In other words, gone.”

According to Trump, others at Mar-a-Lago came to him to complain that Epstein was recruiting staff from the resort. “It was the concept of taking people that work for me — it’s bad,” he added.

Trump and Epstein were once close, frequently seen together in the 1990s and early 2000s. Epstein even attended Trump’s wedding to Marla Maples. But by Trump’s own account, their friendship soured after Epstein allegedly hired his staff behind his back.

On Monday, Trump claimed, “For years, I wouldn’t talk to Jeffrey Epstein… because he did something inappropriate: He hired help.” He added, “I threw him out, and that was it. I’m glad I did, if you know the truth.”

However, his evolving story now appears at odds with his own communications team. Following a Wall Street Journal report that Trump’s name appeared in the Epstein files, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung told reporters that Trump had “kicked [Epstein] out of his club for being a creep.”

The timeline is raising fresh questions — not only about what really caused the Trump-Epstein rift, but also about how much the president knew and when.

Epstein, who had previously pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting sex from an underage girl, was arrested again in 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges. He died in prison just over a month later while awaiting trial.