Trump Refuses To Take Questions as Reporter Asks, ‘Can You Respond to These Epstein Emails?’
President Donald Trump uncharacteristically did not take questions after signing a bill ending the government shutdown on Wednesday night.
Hours earlier, the House passed a government funding bill that reopened the government after it shut down on Oct. 1. The bill funds the government through Jan. 31. Before signing the legislation, Trump ripped Senate Democrats, who refused for weeks to help Republicans meet the 60-vote threshold to advance the bill. Democrats demanded that Republicans agree to extend healthcare premium subsidies for Obamacare recipients, but ultimately, eight Democrats voted to advance the bill without that provision. The subsidies will expire and Dec. 31, and most of the 24 million Americans on Obamacare will see their premium costs double, on average.
Hours before the bill signing, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released emails from deceased child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, who wrote in 2011 that Trump – then a private citizen – “spent hours at my house” with someone whose name had been redacted and was instead referred to as “Victim.” House Republicans pushed back, stating that the redacted name was that of Virginia Giuffre, an Epstein victim who committed suicide this year. Giuffre maintained that she did not witness Trump commit any wrongdoing.
Elsewhere in the emails, Epstein alleges that Trump “knew about the girls.”
“Ok, thank you very much,” Trump told reporters after signing the bill. “I don’t know if you have questions.”
Several reporters asked Trump questions at once.
“I think we really have a really great situation,” the president said. “We have a country that we love, and we have a country that’s in great shape.”
After Trump concluded his remarks, reporters tried to ask questions again.
NBC News Senior White House Correspondent Garrett Haake inquired, “Mr. President, are you prepared to negotiate with Democrats now?”
After receiving no response to that question, Haake asked, “Mr. President, can you respond to these Epstein emails that were released today?”
White House aides ushered the reporters out of the Oval Office without the president answering any questions.
Watch above via Fox News.
