Responding to a report about his former relationship with Epstein, Trump said, “I never wrote a picture in my life." The record suggests otherwise.

No doubt for mainstream-media readers, the Epstein rift came out of nowhere,” said a New York Times reporter. “We had not established how important this story was to a good chunk of the MAGA base.” A political reporter at a rival publication added,

Former Jeffrey Epstein lawyer Alan Dershowitz claims he knows names that are being "suppressed" to "protect individuals." He made this claim during an

Donald Trump directed Pam Bondi, the attorney-general, to request the release of grand-jury testimony about Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted child molester. The instruction came after the Wall Street Journal published details about a risqué birthday letter Mr Trump allegedly wrote to Epstein in 2003.