Fact Check: Did Trump call Jeffrey Epstein's island a 'cesspool' in 2015?
WASHINGTON, DC: Late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein has been making headlines recently after newly released emails showed he mentioned President Donald Trump several times in private messages spanning 15 years.
Recently, several online users claimed a video from 2015 showed Trump calling disgraced financier's Little St James island "a cesspool". But is there any truth to this? Let us find out below.
Claim: Trump called Epstein's Little St James island a 'cesspool' in 2015
On November 17, a Facebook post went viral that had an image meme showing Trump speaking with Bloomberg Politics.
The texts in the image read, "BREAKING: A resurfaced 2015 clip shows Donald Trump calling out Epstein Island BEFORE the public even knew who Epstein really was. … A guilty man doesn't expose the thing he's supposedly trying to hide."
Moreover, the post's text caption claimed that the "major throwback" video "blows up the Democrats' entire Epstein narrative," adding that the clip proved Trump was never involved in Epstein's crimes.
The rumor further spread across different social media platforms such as Instagram and X, where several users reposted the clip.
Fact Check: Trump made the statement mentioned in viral post
The claims made in the online rumor are true, as Donald Trump made the statement during a February 27, 2015, video interview with Bloomberg Politics at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland.
Moreover, the POTUS spoke at CPAC earlier that day, where he mentioned Epstein after Fox News host Sean Hannity asked him for his thoughts about former President Bill Clinton.
Meanwhile, Clinton's spokesperson Angel Ureña posted in 2019, in part, that Clinton knew nothing of Epstein's crimes, and that he had never visited Epstein's island.
Interestingly, the video resurfaced after the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform's November 12 release of more than 20,000 documents related to the late convicted sex offender, including emails to and from Epstein mentioning Trump.
House approves Epstein files bill in 427–1 vote
The House voted 427–1 on Tuesday, November 18, to compel the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release Epstein-related records, which ends months of delay amid fierce political battles over transparency and accountability.
However, only Rep Clay Higgins voted against the measure.
Interestingly, President Donald Trump dropped his opposition as GOP support swelled, clearing political space for more members of his party to back the bill.
Before the vote, Speaker Mike Johnson again voiced concerns about "serious deficiencies" in the legislation but said that he would vote yes.
He said, "We’ll send it to the Senate and we’ll hope it is corrected", still calling the push a “political exercise” by Democrats.
Moreover, Republicans and Democrats had sharp accusations at each other before the vote.
Rep Jim Jordan said that Democrats were "obsessed" with damaging Trump and urged a yes vote simply to "move on" to other priorities.
On the other hand, Oversight Chair James Comer defended his committee’s parallel probe, boasting of 65,000 pages of documents, 13 subpoenas, and interviews with ex-Attorney General Bill Barr and former Labor Secretary Alex Acosta.
