President Donald Trump has made explosive allegations suggesting that the previous Biden administration may have inserted his name into criminal case files related to deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein as an act of political retaliation.
Speaking during an hour-long media briefing in Scotland while seated alongside British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on Monday, Trump characterized the ongoing controversy surrounding the Epstein case as grossly exaggerated and accused his predecessor of potential file manipulation.
“Those files were run by the worst scum on Earth. They were run by Comey, they were run by Garland, they were run by Biden, and all of the people that actually ran the government, including the auto pen. Those files were run for four years by those people. If they had anything, I assume they would have released it,” Trump declared.
The President’s comments come one week after a Wall Street Journal report indicated that officials had informed him his name appeared in the Epstein files, prompting speculation about the nature and context of any such references.
Epstein, a convicted sex offender with connections to numerous high-profile individuals, died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. His case has continued to generate public interest and conspiracy theories about potential cover-ups involving powerful figures.
Trump suggested that his political opponents could have “easily put something in the files that’s a phony,” drawing parallels to what he termed the “fake news dossier” compiled by former MI6 officer Christopher Steele during the 2016 presidential election.
“Christopher Steele, as an example, wrote a book a dossier. We call it the fake news dossier. And the whole thing was a fake. The whole thing was a fake. They could put things in the file that are fake, but those files were run by bad, sick people,” Trump stated.
The allegations have emerged amid growing controversy within Trump’s own administration regarding the handling of Epstein-related information. A July memo from the Department of Justice stating that Epstein had no so-called “client list” and that no additional information would be released has sparked outrage among the President’s supporters.
This decision came after Attorney General Pam Bondi had spent months claiming that officials were conducting document reviews, raising expectations for further disclosures. The subsequent announcement that no more information would be forthcoming has drawn criticism from both Democrats and Republicans, who continue to pressure the Trump administration for greater transparency.
The controversy has created an unusual political dynamic, with Trump’s own base expressing anger at his administration’s handling of the Epstein files while the President simultaneously alleges that his political enemies may have manipulated the very same documents.
Trump dismissed the entire Epstein controversy as “a hoax that’s been built up way beyond proportion,” though he provided no evidence to support his claims of file tampering or his allegations against the previous administration.
The President’s accusations represent a significant escalation in his ongoing political battles with former officials, suggesting deliberate criminal misconduct in the handling of sensitive law enforcement materials without presenting substantiating evidence for such serious claims.