{"id":10403,"date":"2020-07-22T05:08:28","date_gmt":"2020-07-22T12:08:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=10403"},"modified":"2020-07-22T05:08:28","modified_gmt":"2020-07-22T12:08:28","slug":"trumps-warm-words-for-ghislaine-maxwell-i-just-wish-her-well-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=10403","title":{"rendered":"“Trump\u2019s Warm Words for Ghislaine Maxwell: \u2018I Just Wish Her Well\u2019”, The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ed Shanahan, July 21, 2020<\/span><\/p>\n

The president\u2019s comments about Ms. Maxwell, who is charged with luring girls into Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s orbit, drew new attention to Mr. Trump\u2019s friendship with Mr. Epstein.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Jeffrey<\/picture><\/div>\n
\n
Jeffrey Epstein and Donald J. Trump at Mr. Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in 1997.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Davidoff Studios, via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

President Trump\u2019s return to the White House podium on Tuesday to discuss the coronavirus pandemic took an unusual detour when he offered warm words for Ghislaine Maxwell<\/a>, who is facing federal charges of helping Jeffrey Epstein recruit, groom and sexually abuse girls.<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump\u2019s comment about Ms. Maxwell, who was arrested in New Hampshire this month<\/a> and is being held without bail in a federal jail in Brooklyn<\/a>, came in response to a reporter\u2019s question about whether he expected her to go public with the names of powerful men who have been accused in lawsuits of taking part in the sex-trafficking ring that Mr. Epstein allegedly ran.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d Mr. Trump said. \u201cI haven\u2019t really been following it too much. I just wish her well, frankly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve met her numerous times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach, and I guess they lived in Palm Beach,\u201d the president continued, referring to the Florida town where his Mar-a-Lago resort is and where Mr. Epstein had a home. \u201cBut I wish her well, whatever it is.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Ms. Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to the charges.<\/p>\n

The remarks renewed attention on Mr. Trump\u2019s ties to Mr. Epstein, who was arrested almost exactly a year before Ms. Maxwell, Mr. Epstein\u2019s longtime companion. Mr. Epstein was charged in a federal indictment <\/a>with sexually exploiting and abusing dozens of girls and women at his mansion in Manhattan and elsewhere, including at his Palm Beach estate.<\/p>\n

A month after his arrest, Mr. Epstein, 66, hanged himself<\/a> in his cell at the federal jail in Manhattan where he was awaiting trial. Federal prosecutors said after his death that they would continue to investigate his associates.<\/p>\n

After Mr. Epstein\u2019s arrest, Mr. Trump sought to distance himself from the disgraced financier, who had avoided federal sex-crime charges under a widely criticized plea deal<\/a> in 2008 that allowed him to plead guilty to lesser state charges of soliciting prostitution. (A furor over the plea deal ultimately caused Mr. Trump\u2019s labor secretary, who negotiated it, to resign<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House last July, said he knew Mr. Epstein \u201clike everybody in Palm Beach knew him.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, the president added: \u201cI had a falling-out with him. I haven\u2019t spoken to him in 15 years. I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you.\u201d The circumstances of the rupture in their relationship have never been made clear.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Mr. Trump\u2019s comments last year were a reversal from the opinion he expressed in 2002, when he told New York magazine<\/a> that Mr. Epstein was a \u201cterrific guy\u201d whom he had known for 15 years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a lot of fun to be with,\u201d Mr. Trump said at the time. \u201cIt is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Epstein was never a dues-paying Mar-a-Lago member, but Mr. Trump treated him like a close friend and the two men were photographed together at the club in the 1990s and early 2000s \u2014 Mr. Trump always wearing a tie, Mr. Epstein never wearing one. They also attended many of the same dinner parties in Manhattan.<\/p>\n

George Houraney, a Florida businessman, described one episode in the two men\u2019s yearslong relationship<\/a> to The New York Times last year.<\/p>\n

It was 1992, and Mr. Houraney had flown two dozen or so women in for what was supposed to be a \u201ccalendar girl\u201d competition at Mar-a-Lago. The only guests, it turned out, were Mr. Trump and Mr. Epstein.<\/p>\n

Mr. Houraney, who at the time had just teamed up with Mr. Trump to host events at his casinos, was taken aback.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018Donald, this is supposed to be a party with V.I.P.s,\u2019\u201d he recalled. \u201c\u2018You\u2019re telling me it\u2019s you and Epstein?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year, about a week after Mr. Trump sought to disavow his ties to Mr. Epstein, a video surfaced that captured the men enjoying themselves together<\/a> at Mar-a-Lago in the company of dozens of N.F.L. cheerleaders.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

At the event shown in the footage, which also happened in 1992, Mr. Trump and Mr. Epstein<\/a> can be seen watching and commenting to each other about women.<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump, who was 46 at the time and dressed in a suit and a pink tie, appears to be in jovial spirits, laughing and warmly welcoming guests, including Mr. Epstein.<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump seems to be in his element. He moves from the dance floor to the sidelines and back. At one point, he points out a woman to Mr. Epstein and leans in to tell him, \u201cShe\u2019s hot.\u201d<\/p>\n

At another point, Mr. Epstein doubles over laughing at something Mr. Trump whispers in his ear.<\/p>\n

The New York Times<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ed Shanahan, July 21, 2020 The president\u2019s comments about Ms. Maxwell, who is charged with luring girls into Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s orbit, drew new attention to Mr. Trump\u2019s friendship with Mr. Epstein. Jeffrey Epstein and Donald J. Trump at Mr. Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in 1997.Credit…Davidoff Studios, via Getty Images President Trump\u2019s return to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10403"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10403"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10404,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10403\/revisions\/10404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}