Newly uncovered photos and video footage published by CNN show more links between the notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump, including Epstein’s attendance at Trump’s wedding to Marla Maples at the Plaza hotel in New York in 1993.
The media organization said on Wednesday that Epstein’s attendance at the wedding ceremony was not widely known.
CNN also published footage from 1999 of Trump and Epstein attending a Victoria’s Secret fashion event in New York, where they are seen talking and laughing alongside Trump’s future wife, Melania Trump.
The outlet noted that the newly published material pre-dates any of Epstein’s known legal troubles.
Another image from the wedding shows Epstein in the background of a group photo of Howard Stern, Alison Stern, Robin Leach and Cecilia Nord.
CNN also published photos of Trump and Epstein at the 1993 opening of the Harley-Davidson Cafe in New York, where Trump is seen with his arm around two of his children, Eric and Ivanka, while Epstein stands beside them.
When asked for comment by CNN on the newly unearthed videos and photos, Trump reportedly responded: “You’ve got to be kidding me.” He then reportedly called CNN “fake news” and hung up the phone.
Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, said in a statement to CNN that the videos and photos were “nothing more than out-of-context frame grabs of innocuous videos and pictures of widely attended events to disgustingly infer something nefarious”.
“The fact is that the President kicked him out of his club for being a creep,” Cheung added. “This is nothing more than a continuation of the fake news stories concocted by the Democrats and the liberal media.”
The renewed scrutiny of Trump and Epstein’s relationship comes after the justice department announced earlier this month that it would not be releasing any additional files related to the Epstein case, despite previous promises from Trump and the US attorney general, Pam Bondi. The decision angered many people, including some Trump supporters and other conservative commentators.
Before falling out over a real estate deal in Palm Beach in the mid-2000s, Trump and Epstein were pictured together at social events on multiple occasions over the years. Footage of Trump and Epstein at a party in 1992 published by NBC has been widely circulated over the years, and photos published by the Palm Beach Post also show Trump, Epstein, the Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell and Prince Andrew at a charity fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago in 2000.
Two photos from Getty Images also show Trump and Epstein at a 1997 Victoria’s Secret Angels party in New York.
In a 2002 New York magazine profile of Epstein, Trump was quoted saying: “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy … He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
According to the New York Times, Trump flew on Epstein’s jets at least seven times over four years in the 1990s.
In the new CNN report on Wednesday, the outlet also reports that in Trump’s 2004 book – Trump: How to Get Rich – he referenced receiving a call from a man he called “the mysterious Jeffrey”.
It’s unclear if the “mysterious Jeffrey” is Epstein and CNN said that the White House did not address it in a comment.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump allegedly sent Epstein a birthday card in 2003 for his 50th birthday, that reportedly featured a drawing of a naked woman and a message that said in part: “Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.”
Trump denied authoring the card and has since sued the Journal.
On Friday, the Trump administration asked a federal court to unseal grand jury transcripts related to the Epstein case. And this week it was reported that the justice department is meeting with Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking.
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