Mark Epstein, brother of the late Jeffrey Epstein, has suggested that Donald Trump delayed the release of Epstein-related files for what he considers an ‘obvious’ reason.
The US President has been against making these files public for several months. These documents include details of the business connections and associates of the disgraced financier. Trump has even referred to the situation as a ‘hoax’ as recently as last week.
However, on Monday, Trump reversed his stance and announced his agreement to release the files following a successful Senate vote.
The Epstein Files Transparency Act was signed into law by Trump on Wednesday after passing through both the House of Representatives and the Senate. This new law requires the Department of Justice to release the documents within 30 days, albeit with significant redactions.
On Thursday, while speaking to Erin Burnett on CNN’s OutFront, Epstein discussed why he believes Trump resisted the release and why he hadn’t done so earlier. He claimed that Trump intentionally delayed the release.
“Well, I think it’s an obvious question, not just for me,” he remarked. “It’s just there’s things in there he doesn’t want people to see. I mean, that… seems to be obvious.”
Currently, there is no evidence supporting Epstein’s claim, which appears to be purely speculative.
During the interview, Epstein also remarked on the alleged friendship between his late brother and Trump, stating they were “very good friends.”
“They say Donald was on Jeff’s plane like seven times, but I question, have they checked Donald’s flight logs from those days to see how many times Jeffrey was on his plane?” Mark said.
“I know Jeffrey told me on a number of occasions that he flew up or flew down with Donald. And Donald was in Jeffrey’s office quite a bit back in the 90s. They were good friends, everybody around knew that.”
Epstein further speculated on why the friendship between Trump and his brother ended, claiming it was because Jeffrey realized Trump was a ‘crook.’
He also suggested that a recording of this statement exists somewhere.
Trump has consistently asserted that he had not been in contact with Jeffrey for years before his death.
Nonetheless, Epstein claims that Trump reached out to his brother shortly after winning the 2016 election, expressing disbelief over his victory.
“Jeffrey told me that it was after the election, Trump called him, and it was sort of like ‘Can you believe this?’ Because nobody believed Trump was going to win. Trump was sort of surprised himself that he won,” Mark said.