Calls Jeffrey Epstein's island a 'cesspool' to attack Clinton
At CPAC, Trump brought up Jeffrey Epstein's private island twice to suggest Bill Clinton had "a lot of problems coming up." During his main-stage Q&A with Sean Hannity, he referenced "the famous island with Jeffrey Epstein," then elaborated in a Bloomberg Politics interview: "That island was really a cesspool. There's no question about it. Just ask Prince Andrew. He'll tell you about it. The island was an absolute cesspool." The attack was notable given Trump's own 15-year friendship with Epstein, whom he'd praised in 2002 as a "terrific guy" who "likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side." By 2015, Trump was distancing himself from Epstein and weaponizing the connection against Clinton.
“That island was really a cesspool. There's no question about it. Just ask Prince Andrew. He'll tell you about it. The island was an absolute cesspool.” — Bloomberg Politics interview at CPAC, February 27, 2015, elaborating on comment made earlier in Hannity Q&A
Analysis Feed
AI commentaryTrump's 'cesspool' comment represents an attempt to distance himself from Jeffrey Epstein while attacking a political rival. The hypocrisy is stark: Trump had been friends with Epstein since the late 1980s, flew on his plane multiple times in the 1990s, and in 2002 called him a 'terrific guy' who likes women 'on the younger side.' Their friendship reportedly ended around 2004-2007. By February 2015, as Trump positioned himself for a presidential run, he sought to weaponize Epstein connections against Clinton while obscuring his own ties.