Footage of Jeffrey Epstein evading questions about his relationship with Donald Trump has resurfaced as the president continues to dodge the topic.
On Wednesday, a clip of Epstein’s 2010 deposition went viral, showing the late sex offender being asked questions on camera by a lawyer representing one of his victims.
In the footage, he admitted he had “socialized” with Trump when asked if he had a “personal relationship” with the future president.
In a follow-up question, Epstein was asked, “Have you ever socialized with Donald Trump in the presence of females under the age of 18?”
Epstein said, “Though l’d like to answer that question, at least today l’m going to have to assert my Fifth, Sixth, and 14th Amendment rights, sir.”
On MSNBC’s The Last Word on Wednesday, host Lawrence O’Donnell quoted from the resurfaced Epstein deposition, which had initially been reported on by the New York Times in 2019.
“On the question of whether Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein ever socialized in the presence of females under the age of 18, Jeffrey Epstein took the Fifth Amendment,” O’Donnell said.
“Would Donald Trump take the Fifth Amendment to that question? There are other people, sadly, many other people who have testified under oath about Jeffrey Epstein.”
The host said of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s victims, “I hope they have found a way to separate from the news media, or at least the coverage of Jeffrey Epstein, because that is the most painful subject in their lives.”
On August 10, 2019, Epstein was found dead in his jail cell. Maxwell is currently in jail, but Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has announced that he plans to interview her in the coming days.
On Wednesday, the president was again drawn into the ongoing saga when the Wall Street Journal claimed Attorney General Pam Bondi had told him in May that his name featured in the Epstein files.
In a statement, White House spokesman Steven Cheung said, “This is nothing more than a continuation of the fake news stories concocted by the Democrats and the liberal media.”
President Trump has yet to address these latest claims on his Truth Social account.
O’Donnell remarked on Trump’s silence over the Journal article that the president remained in “abject fear and silence.”
The MSNBC host said, “But he sent his White House staff out to release a statement saying this is another fake news story. Just like the previous story by the Wall Street Journal. And that childish statement by Donald Trump’s White House staff who Donald Trump has chosen to hide behind.”
