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FANNING THE FLAMES
Trump: ‘I Have No Idea’ if Clintons Killed Epstein but Saying So Was ‘Fine’
Two days after promoting a conspiracy theory tying the Clintons to the accused sex-trafficker’s death, the president continued to promote the baseless claim.

Pilar Melendez
Reporter

Updated 08.13.19 7:26PM ET / Published 08.13.19 1:20PM ET

Volume 90%

President Donald Trump on Tuesday continued to fuel conspiracy theories about sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s death, further implicating former President Bill Clinton in the process.
Speaking to reporters before heading to Pennsylvania for a speech, Trump said he has “no idea” if Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, were involved in Epstein’s death. Two days ago, however, following news of Epstein’s apparent suicide in a Manhattan jail, the president retweeted a baseless conspiracy theory connecting the Clintons to the accused sex trafficker’s death.
“BREAKING: Documents were unsealed yesterday revealing that top Democrats, including Bill Clinton, took private trips to Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘pedophilia island’,” read the tweet from right-wing pundit Terrence K. Williams—a post that also included the hashtags #ClintonBodyCount and #ClintonCrimeFamily.
On Tuesday, however, Trump defended promoting the conspiracy theory. “The retweet—which is what it was, it was a retweet—was somebody that is a very respected conservative pundit,” the president said of Williams, who is most famous for making racist jokes on Fox News. “So I think it was fine,” the president said.
Asked whether he actually believes the conspiracy theories, Trump told reporters, “I have no idea. I know [Clinton] was on his plane 27 times,” referring to trips the former president took on the convicted pedophile’s private jet.
‘HILLARY’D!’
Conspiracy Theories Erupt After Jeffrey Epstein’s Death
Kelly Weill

“That was not a good place, as I understand it, and I was never there,” Trump further said, alluding to Epstein’s home in the U.S. Virgin Islands where he allegedly trafficked underage girls for powerful men.
“You have to ask, did Bill Clinton go to the island?” the president continued during the gaggle, adding that the former president was “a very good friend” of Epstein’s. “That’s the question. If you find that out, you’re going to know a lot,” he said, once again fueling conspiracy theories.
Both Trump and Clinton have been named as former friends of Epstein. While Trump only reportedly flew on Epstein’s private plane at least once in the ’90s, Clinton is known to have used the plane multiple times. Trump seemed to be aware of Epstein’s sexual proclivities, at one time praising Epstein to New York magazine: “It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
Epstein, 66, was reportedly found Saturday morning in his jail cell at Manhattan Correctional Center in cardiac arrest before being transferred to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The disgraced financier was being held in MCC on several sex-trafficking charges for allegedly abusing dozens of underage girls over two decades.
On Monday, FBI agents raided Epstein’s island compound as part of their investigation into his alleged sex-trafficking ring. Agents reportedly seized several computers from Epstein’s home, which has been dubbed as “Pedophile Island.”
Last month, Epstein was reportedly discovered lying semi-conscious in the fetal position in his cell with marks on his neck but was taken off suicide watch just six days later. As previously reported by The Daily Beast, Epstein was alone in his cell at the time of his death.
U.S. Attorney General William Barr announced that he had asked the Justice Department’s inspector general to investigate Epstein’s death and the “serious irregularities” at MCC. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has also launched a probe into his apparent suicide.
Related in Politics

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Tapper: Trump’s Conspiracy Theories Amplify the Worst of Us

Congress Races Epstein Facts Before Conspiracy Spreads
Trump agreed with the multi-department investigation, telling reporters on Tuesday, “I want a full investigation and that’s what I absolutely am demanding.”

Pilar Melendez
Reporter

@pbmelendez

Pilar.Melendez@thedailybeast.com
Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.

READ THIS LIST
Donald Trump Upstaged at G7 By Foreign Minister of Iran
Christopher Dickey
Steve King Is Basically Broke as He Runs for Re-Election
Lachlan Markay
50 Cent on Lil Nas X and His Sexual ‘Fetish Areas’
Marlow Stern
‘Moscow Mitch’ Still Doesn’t Get It
Clive Irving
5 Questions Prince Andrew Still Has To Answer About Epstein
Tom Sykes, Tim Teeman

SURPRISE!
Donald Trump Upstaged at G7 By Foreign Minister of … Iran
The previously unannounced visit of Javad Zarif may help calm the escalating dangers of war between the U.S. and Iran, but not for long.

Christopher Dickey
World News Editor

Updated 08.25.19 12:51PM ET / Published 08.25.19 12:50PM ET

It looked like President Donald Trump was set up for a diplomatic ambush at the Group of Seven summit on Sunday when Iran’s foreign minister suddenly flew into town.
The arrival of the smooth-talking Javad Zarif at the elegant French beach resort of Biarritz, where the leaders of the seven most industrialized democracies are gathered, underscored a key conflict between Trump and the rest about how to deal with Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
IRAN AWAY
‘Absolute Amateur Hour’: Team Trump Mangles Messages to Iran
Erin Banco,
Asawin Suebsaeng

Last year, the U.S. pulled out of an agreement that severely limited for several years Iran’s production and stockpiling of nuclear fuel and imposed an extensive inspection regime. Trump claimed the accord forged under Barack Obama was a disastrous deal, and he could do better.
A senior French diplomat told reporters at the G7 summit in Biarritz that Macron informed Trump over lunch on Saturday that Zarif would be coming, and told the rest of the summit participants at dinner that night.
The Trump administration imposed sanctions specifically targeting Zarif earlier this month, but when Trump was asked for a reaction after the the visit became public, his initial comment was, “No comment.”
Although Trump has said he would be willing to meet with Iran’s leaders, they have so far declined, and a tweet from the Iranian foreign ministry stated flaty, “There will be no meetings or negotiations with the American delegation on this trip.”
Trump has insisted he can force Iran to make more concessions, not only about nukes, but about its missiles and extensive proxy forces outside its borders, most notably Hezbollah, and to that end the U.S. has imposed draconian sanctions crippling the Iranian economy while punishing its trading partners.
Germany, France and Britain–all signatories of the Iran deal, and all represented at the G7–have sought desperately to shore up the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as the agreement is called. They share Trump’s view that missiles and proxies are serious issues, but they believe it makes more sense to keep the nuclear agreement that exists rather than throw all the cards up in the air.
To try to keep Iran on board, the Europeans have been discussing various mechanisms to try to bypass the American sanctions, but with little success. Meanwhile, step by calculated step, Iran terminates bits of the JCPOA.
ITCHING FOR A FIGHT
As Iran-U.S. Tensions Rise, Hezbollah Readies for War
Jesse Rosenfeld

In June, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, also at the G7 this weekend, visited Tehran to try to calm the situation, but to no avail. Indeed, holes were blown in a Japanese tanker by mysterious, presumably Iranian, agents at the same time as Abe’s visit.
It’s likely that Zarif’s visit to Biarritz is mainly political theater orchestrated by Macron, and there is little hope it will resolve an increasingly dangerous standoff between the U.S. and Iran. Already we have seen attacks on shipping near the strategic Strait of Hormuz and the recent British seizure, then release against U.S. objections, of an Iranian tanker at Gibraltar.
Last month, when Iran downed an American drone it claimed was over its territorial waters, Trump gave a green light, then a red one, to a retaliatory attack that would have killed several Iranian personnel.
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Meanwhile, as The Daily Beast has reported, Iran’s clients in Lebanon and Syria, the Hezbollah militias, are preparing for war with Israel as part of a wider conflagration, and Israel is attacking Iranian installations in Iraq as well as Syria.
What Zarif’s visit to the G7 summit might do is calm the situation and buy some time.

READ THIS LIST
Steve King Is Basically Broke as He Runs for Re-Election
Lachlan Markay
50 Cent on Lil Nas X and His Sexual ‘Fetish Areas’
Marlow Stern
‘Moscow Mitch’ Still Doesn’t Get It
Clive Irving
5 Questions Prince Andrew Still Has To Answer About Epstein
Tom Sykes, Tim Teeman
Cops Are Digging Up This Child Killer’s Burial Ground Again
Summer Eldemire

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