Trump Suggests His Name Was “Planted” in Epstein Files, Denounces Investigation as Political Hoax

U.S. President Donald Trump has alleged that his name may have been intentionally added to the infamous Jeffrey Epstein files by former Attorney General Merrick Garland or ex-FBI Director James Comey, calling the controversy a politically motivated hoax.

During a press briefing at his Turnberry golf course in Scotland, reporters pressed President Trump on reports that his name appeared in the recently unsealed files related to Epstein, the convicted sex offender.

When asked if he had been briefed about the mention, Trump replied, "Well, I haven't been overly interested in it. It's a hoax that's been built up by those, way beyond proportion. 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. Those files were run for four years by those people."

Trump dismissed the documents as fabricated, insisting, "The whole thing is a hoax. They ran the files. I was running against somebody that ran the files. If they had something they would have released."

The president also alluded to the discredited Steele dossier—an unverified collection of allegations about his ties to Russia compiled during the 2016 election—as an example of how false claims can make their way into official files. "They can easily put something in the files that's a phony," Trump stated.

"Christopher Steele wrote a book, we call the 'fake news dossier.' The whole thing was a fake. They can put things in the file that was a fake. Those files were run by sick, sick people."

Trump was further questioned about the possibility of pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's former associate who was convicted of child sex trafficking and sentenced to 20 years in prison. The president reiterated that, while he has the power to grant a pardon, "nobody's approached me with it, nobody's asked me about it." He added, "It's in the news about that—that aspect of it, but right now it would be inappropriate to talk about it."

His comments mirrored statements he made last Friday, when he emphasized, "It's something I haven't thought about... I'm allowed to do it, but it's something I have not thought about."