Trump offers up list of Epstein ‘names’
US president Donald Trump has offered up ‘a list’ of Jeffrey Epstein associates and spoken about the possibility of a pardon for the dead pedophile’s co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.
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President Trump has stunned reporters by offering them “a list” of Jeffrey Epstein associates and telling them he hasn’t thought about whether he will pardon the dead pedophile’s co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.
Mr Trump commented on the case as Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche interviewed Maxwell, 63, for a second day — as the administration seeks to put to bed three straight weeks of renewed controversy over the late criminal.
“You should focus on [Bill] Clinton. You should focus on the president of Harvard, the former president of Harvard [Larry Summers], you should focus on some of the hedge fund guys. I’ll give you a list,” the president said as he departed the White House for a trip to Scotland.
“You ought to be speaking about Bill Clinton, who went to [Epstein’s private isle in the US Virgin Islands] 28 times. I never went to the island,” the president scolded the White House press corps.
The president also said he wasn’t worried that Blanche could be misled by convicted sex trafficker Maxwell in a gambit to win an earlier release, calling Blanche, his own former personal lawyer, a “professional lawyer who’s been through things like this before.”
Mr Trump also addressed a crude note he purportedly wrote in 2003 to Epstein on the occasion of his 50th birthday as part of a bound book assembled by Maxwell, saying: “Somebody could have written a letter and used my name.”
Asked about whether he would pardon Maxwell, Mr Trump said first that he “can’t talk about pardons” and then that “it’s something I haven’t thought about.”
“I’m allowed to do it, but it’s something I haven’t thought about,” he said, according to the Daily Mail.
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TRUMP, FED CHIEF BICKER DURING TENSE CENTRAL BANK VISIT
Donald Trump and US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell appeared together for a tense meeting as the president toured the central bank after ramping up his attacks on its management of the economy.
Mr Trump - who wants to oust Powell for refusing to lower interest rates but likely lacks the legal authority to do so - has threatened to fire the Fed chief over cost overruns for a renovation of its Washington headquarters.
During a brief but painfully awkward exchange in front of reporters during a tour of the building, the pair bickered over the price tag for the makeover, which President Trump said was US$3.1 billion.
The actual cost of the facelift has been put at US$2.5 billion and Powell was quick to correct the president, telling him: “I haven’t heard that from anybody.”
Mr Trump produced a sheet of paper apparently listing construction costs and was told curtly that he was including work on the William McChesney Martin Jr. Building, which was not part of the project.
“You’re including the Martin renovation - you just added in a third building,” Powell scolded.
Mr Trump stuck to his guns, saying it was part of the overall redevelopment. Powell shot back: “No, it was built five years ago. We finished Martin five years ago... It’s not new.”
Mr Trump moved on but the tense atmosphere between the pair was almost palpable, with the Republican leader unaccustomed to being contradicted live on air.
President Trump berated Powell over interest rates on Wednesday, and alluded to his annoyance over the cost of borrowing more than 10 times during Thursday’s tour.
“As good as we’re doing, we’d do better if we had lower interest rates,” he told reporters.
Mr Trump has criticised Powell for months over his insistence on keeping short-term interest rate at 4.3 per cent this year, after cutting it three times last year, when Joe Biden was in office.
Powell says he is monitoring the response of the economy to President Trump’s dizzying array of import tariffs, which he has warned could lead to a hike in inflation.
But Mr Trump has angrily accused Powell of holding back the economy, calling the man he nominated in his first term “stupid” and a “loser.”
The president struck a more conciliatory tone later Thursday, telling reporters they’d had a “productive talk” on the economy, with “no tension.” “It may be a little too late, as the expression goes, but I believe he’s going to do the right thing,” Mr Trump said.
MUSK’S TESLA SHARES PLUMMET
Tesla shares tumbled more than eight per cent on Thursday after it reported lower profits and CEO Elon Musk warned the company faced more potentially “rough” quarters ahead.
Musk, on an earnings conference call, suggested the company’s recent slump would continue or worsen in a difficult interim period until new autonomous transport ventures can be monetised.
The company expects lower sales after a US$7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicle purchases expires on September 30 under legislation signed into law by President Donald Trump.
“We probably could have a few rough quarters,” said Musk, while adding Tesla’s business proposition will be “very compelling” once its autonomy operations are scaled up.
Musk donated more than US$270 million to Mr Trump’s successful 2024 presidential campaign.
But Mr Trump’s giant fiscal package has been a source of a recurring feud between the billionaire and the US president.
EU AND US INCH TOWARDS TRADE TARIFFS DEAL
With a EU-US trade deal taking shape, the European Union is flexing its muscles in a bid to squeeze concessions from US President Donald Trump in the run-up to his deadline of August 1.
Brussels and Washington appear to be inching towards a deal with a baseline 15-percent US levy on EU goods, and potential carve-outs for critical sectors, multiple diplomats told AFP.
The EU’s 27 countries have largely let the European Commission focus on seeking a deal to avoid hefty US tariffs - as President Trump repeatedly upped the stakes, finally threatening them with 30-percent levies without an accord by month’s end.
But since the US leader’s latest ultimatum, the tone has hardened from key EU capitals Paris and Berlin: they say it is time for Brussels to show its mettle and willingness to respond forcefully if needed.
Reflecting the toughened stance, EU states Thursday backed a package of retaliation on 93 billion euros (US$109 billion) of US goods - to kick in from August 7 if talks fall short.
The counter-tariffs are “intended to support negotiations, not escalate tensions”, an EU diplomat emphasised.
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