President Donald Trump says he made it clear years ago that Jeffrey Epstein was no longer welcome at Mar-a-Lago — and he’s glad he did.
During a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland, Trump was asked about his falling out with Epstein. At first, he brushed it off. “That’s such old history,” he said, calling it “very easy to explain” but not worth the time.
Still, Trump went on to explain. “For years, I wouldn’t talk to Jeffrey Epstein,” he said. “I wouldn’t talk, because he did something that was inappropriate.”
According to Trump, Epstein hired away some of his staff. “He stole people that worked for me,” Trump said. “I said, ‘Don’t ever do that again.’ He did it again. And I threw him out of the place — persona non grata. I threw him out, and that was it.”
Trump also emphasized that he never visited Epstein’s private island, despite being invited. He then pointed to former President Bill Clinton, saying, “Bill Clinton went there, supposedly, 28 times.”
“I never went to the island,” Trump reiterated. “But Larry Summers, I hear, went there. He was the head of Harvard. And many other big names — nobody talks about them.”
He said many people in Palm Beach were invited to Epstein’s island, but he made the decision to say no. “In one of my very good moments, I turned it down,” Trump said. “I didn’t want to go.”
Trump concluded, “I never had the privilege of going to his island. And I did turn it down.”