President Donald Trump shifted from wide-eyed pleas of ignorance to profane rage when he was confronted about reports of a high-level strategy session on how to deal with the Jeffrey Epstein story.
Multiple outlets with multiple sources each have reported plans for a Wednesday night gathering at Vice President JD Vance’s residence that would include Trump Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
But when President Trump was confronted about the plans during a photo op in the Oval Office of the White House, he ostentatiously professed ignorance and passed the buck to Vance, then raged at what he calls a “hoax”:
REPORTER: Is he hosting some kind of gathering of top advisers this evening to talk about how to respond to the situation?DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I don’t know, I could ask you that question. I don’t know of it, but I think — here’s the man right here.J.D. VANCE (R) VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I saw it reported today, and it’s completely fake news. We’re not meeting to talk about the Epstein situation. And I think the reporter who reported it needs to get better sources.PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Look, the whole thing is a hoax! It’s put out by the Democrats because we’ve
had the most successful six months in the history of our country and that’s just a way of trying to divert attention to something that’s total bullshit! Okay?
Trump has spent weeks attempting to quash conspiracy theories about Epstein, even resorting to lashing out at his supporters with a series of public statements and trying to sell the MAGA-promoted outrage as a Democratic “hoax.”
But that effort has come up short at every turn, and even the reported strategy dinner has reportedly been scrapped.
Watch above via the White House press pool.