'Spiraling': Ex-Trump staffers say newest Epstein comments make him look 'really guilty'
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks after signing the VA Home Loan Program Reform Act at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 30, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein© provided by AlterNet
Two senior-level staffers from President Donald Trump's first administration are now saying the president's constantly shifting explanations on his relationship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein suggest he's withholding significant details.
During the Wednesday episode of Jim Acosta's Substack show, the former CNN host interviewed both Olivia Troye and Miles Taylor, who served in the office of former Vice President Mike Pence and the Department of Homeland Security, respectively. Both agreed that Trump's continuously shifting story on his association with Epstein raise a number of red flags that merit further investigation.
Taylor — who famously authored the anonymous New York Times op-ed about the "resistance" inside the Trump White House — said that the endurance of the Epstein scandal in the media is likely weighing heavy on the president's mind. He further argued that Trump's recent suggestion that his name was "planted" in the Epstein files is a sign that he's "spiraling."
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"He's getting really paranoid here," Taylor said. "There's no supporter of his that's going to buy the idea that his name was simply planted in the files given everything that's come out, given the revelations that Trump was briefed by his own attorney general that his name was really found in the files. And so he's getting really anxious here."
Troye agreed with Taylor's point, and made the argument that Trump wasn't "behaving like someone who is innocent." She further suggested that Trump's "lashing out" makes him look "really guilty."
"This is someone who is not exhibiting any sort of transparency or any remorse for the victims, or anything that any normal person who has nothing to hide would exhibit," she said. "Also, if all of this is fake, if all of this is isn't real, then why are you so angry and spending so much money and why re you suing? ... It's sort of like, the deflection of everything and the anger ... and I think he knows he's in a lot of trouble here."
Earlier this week, Trump told reporters during a press gaggle on Air Force One that he kicked Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago club because he "stole" young female employees from him, including 17 year-old Virginia Giuffre (who died by suicide earlier this year). However, author and journalist Barry Levine told CNN that Epstein was actually a paying Mar-a-Lago member for seven years after his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, groomed Giuffre and recruited him into his child trafficking ring. |
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