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Donald Trump’s ‘awful nickname’ for Jeffrey Epstein’s private island revealed in new book
Claims made by journalist including that the former US president asked whether his name was mentioned by Ghislaine Maxwell after her arrest
Donald Trump asked aides if Ghislaine Maxwell had mentioned him after she was arrested for trafficking girls to be abused by Jeffrey Epstein, a new book claims.
The former US president also insisted he never went to what he called Epstein’s “w---e island” in the Caribbean.
After seeing an article in the New York Post in July 2020 which said that Maxwell would “name names,” an anxious Mr Trump is alleged to have asked campaign advisors: “She say anything about me?”
Mr Trump has ties to both Maxwell and Epstein, whose Palm Beach residence was not far from Mar a Lago.
The resort is where Maxwell first met Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who recently reached an out-of-court financial settlement with Prince Andrew.
Epstein also took one of his victims - known as “Jane” - to Mar a Lago and introduced the then 14-year-old to Mr Trump, a court heard last year. He was not accused of any wrongdoing.
In “Confidence Man” by Maggie Haberman, a New York Times journalist, she describes a meeting in New York in early 2015 between Mr Trump and “National Enquirer” owner David Pecker.
The newspaper boss arrived at Trump Tower “with a copy of the tabloid featuring Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, and Jeffrey Epstein, the investor and convicted sex offender and onetime friend of Trump, with whom Trump had fallen out years earlier,” the book says.
Mr Pecker and Mr Trump “talked about Epstein’s private island, where he was rumoured to bring powerful men to have sexual encounters with young women. Trump called it ‘w— island’ and told aides he had never been there,” it continued.
In a separate passage, Mr Trump was said to be on a private plane to Florida with Maxwell in 1997 when he turned off the film Michael, starring John Travolta as an angel – in favour of Bloodsport, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, and having “his 13-year-old son, Eric, fast-forward through much of the dialogue to get to the fight scenes”.
Number of claims made
The book makes a number of claims, including that Mr Trump flushed official documents down the lavatory at the White House, wanted to bomb Mexican drug labs and nearly fired his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner on Twitter.
Mr Trump, who sat down for three interviews with Ms Haberman, has since called it a “fake book” with “many made up stories”.
On Tuesday, Mr Trump was facing fresh claims over documents seized by the FBI at Mar a Lago.
The Washington Post reported that he asked one of his lawyers to tell the National Archives and Records Administration in early 2022 that all materials requested by the agency had been returned. The lawyer is said to have declined because he was not sure the statement was true, according to people familiar with the matter.
A Trump spokesman did not respond to specific questions about the claim, the paper said.
Embroiling himself in another legal battle, Mr Trump has also announced that he is suing CNN for $475 million (£420 million) in damages over claims the cable TV network defamed him with comparisons to Adolf Hitler and Chairman Mao.
Mr Trump claims in the 29-page lawsuit that CNN had a long track record of criticising him but had ramped up its attacks in recent months because the network feared that he would run again for president in 2024.
CNN declined to comment on the case.