By Chris Sommerfeldt
New York Daily News
President Donald Trump on Tuesday defended his retweet of a baseless conspiracy theory tying former President Bill Clinton to Jeffrey Epstein’s death, saying it was “fine” for him to amplify the wild claim because it was cooked up by “a highly respected conservative.”
Speaking to reporters before departing for Philadelphia, Trump stood up for right-wing conspiracy theorist Terrence Williams and suggested there was nothing wrong about using his presidential Twitter handle to spread Williams’ unsubstantiated claims.
“He’s a very highly respected conservative pundit. He’s a Trump fan,” the president said. “He’s a man who has half a million followers, a lot of followers … The retweet was from somebody that’s a very respected conservative pundit, so I think it was fine, yeah.”
Despite Trump’s claims, Williams was virtually unknown until the president boosted a video he posted over the weekend, in which the self-described comedian and actor made outrageous inferences about Epstein’s death at a Manhattan federal lockup Saturday.
“For some odd reason, for some odd reason, people that have information on the Clintons end up dead and they usually die from suicide,” Williams says in the video. “C’mon now, c’mon now. Now how does everybody die from suicide who have information on you?”
Absolutely no evidence has surfaced to suggest either Bill or Hillary Clinton had anything to do with Epstein’s death.
Bill Clinton’s name appeared in flight logs for Epstein’s private plane that were released last week along with a cache of court records detailing the wealthy New York financier’s disturbing behavior.
While speaking to reporters, Trump floated the possibility that Clinton had visited Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean, which was raided by federal agents Monday.
“The question you have to ask, did Bill Clinton go to the island? Because Epstein had an island. That was not a good place, as I understand it,” said Trump, who used to socialize with Epstein. “I was never there. So you have to ask, did Bill Clinton go to the island? That’s the question. If you find that out, you are going to know a lot.”
Angel Urena, a spokesman for Clinton, smacked down that suggestion Tuesday, telling the New York Daily News, “President Clinton has never been to Little St. James Island.”
Urena also took to Twitter to suggest that Trump may be losing his grip on reality.
“Might be hard to hear over Air Force One, but that’s the sound of the President of the United States’ credibility blowing in the wind. #25thAmendment,” Urena tweeted along with a video of Trump’s remarks, using a hashtag for the constitutional process by which a president can be removed from office on the basis that he’s unfit to serve.
Williams, meanwhile, appeared ecstatic that the commander in chief was once again giving credence to his wild musings.
“Thank you … for the kind words,” Williams tweeted at Trump. “They are going crazy over a retweet because they have nothing else to complain about since the Russia HOAX is over!”
Epstein, a convicted sex offender accused of trafficking and sexually molesting dozens of underage girls, was found hanged in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Manhattan on Saturday. He was set to go on trial on charges that could have landed him in prison for the rest of his life.
The Justice Department’s inspector general and the FBI are investigating Epstein’s death. He is believed to have killed himself, according to sources.
