Donald Trump has insisted he was justified in promoting a baseless conspiracy theory about Jeffrey Epstein’s death because the man he retweeted “has half-a-million followers”. The US president shared a tweet on Saturday by right-wing commentator Terrence K Williams, who baselessly suggested in the video post that the Clinton family had the paedophile financier killed due to former president Bill Clinton’s past association with him. “He had information on the Clintons, and the man ended up dead,” Mr Williams said in a rambling two-minute diatribe. It was posted the same day Epstein was found hanged in his
New York prison cell in what the
FBI said was an "apparent suicide". On Tuesday, it was reported two guards fell asleep briefly on the night of the 66-year-old's death, then attempted to falsify records. Epstein was facing new sex trafficking and conspiracy charges over allegations he operated an international child sex trafficking ring. He was set to stand trial next year and was facing 45 years in jail if convicted. Asked by reporters outside his New Jersey
golf resort on Tuesday to clarify his retweet of Mr Williams, Mr Trump said: “He’s a big Trump fan. That was a retweet, it wasn’t from me, that was from him, but the man has half a million followers, a lot of followers.” The president also said Mr Williams was a “very highly respected conservative pundit”. > Died of SUICIDE on 24/7 SUICIDE WATCH ? Yeah right! How does that happenJefferyEpstein had information on
Bill Clinton & now he’s dead > > I see TrumpBodyCount trending but we know who did this! > > RT if you’re not SurprisedEpsteinSuicide ClintonBodyCount ClintonCrimeFamily pic.twitter.com/Y9tGAWaAxX> > — Terrence K. Williams (@w_terrence) > > August 10, 2019Mr Trump's comments came after Mr Williams doubled down on his conspiracy theorising when he sarcastically pretended to try and hang himself on video with toilet roll to purportedly show Mr Epstein could not have killed himself.Last year, Mr Williams was cut short by
Fox News during an interview for being too racist, when he called an Asian-American New York Times journalist "Crazy-nese" and said there was "something wrong with them fortune cookies that Ling Ling's eating".Asked by one reporter if he really believed the Clintons were involved in Epstein’s death, Mr Trump suggested there was merit to the conspiracy theory when he said he had “no idea” if it was true, but that Mr Clinton had been on Epstein’s private plane.Mr Trump also noted attorney general
William Barr had ordered an investigation into Epstein's death, adding: “I want a full investigation, and that's what I absolutely am demanding."Epstein’s death came a day after new legal documents, unsealed by a court, provided more details about the numerous young girls the financier is said to have abused over several decades.The documents related to a defamation lawsuit brought by
Virginia Giuffre, who said she was abused over a period of years by Epstein and members of his circle, which included a number of high-profile men from the worlds of business and politics.