面对杂志上关于杰弗里·爱泼斯坦档案的骚动，总统唐纳德·特朗普继续试图将争议归咎于他人，包括拜登政府官员，他称之为“骗局”。"
特朗普周三晚上在接受“真正的美国之声”的“新闻”电话采访时，声称民主党人和前官员篡改了与这位名誉扫地的金融家和被定罪的性侵犯者有关的文件，但没有提供证据。
当特朗普被问及他是否希望一名检察官调查政治起诉的广泛主题时，发表了上述评论。
“嗯，我认为这是在爱泼斯坦的情况下，他们已经看过了，他们正在看，我认为他们必须做的就是拿出任何可信的东西，”特朗普说。
“但是你知道，这是由拜登政府管理了四年。我可以想象他们放入文件的内容，就像他们对其他人做的那样，”特朗普继续说道。“我是说，斯蒂尔的档案完全是伪造的，对吗?人们花了两年时间才弄明白，你提到的所有东西都是假的。”
“所以我会想象，如果他们由克里斯·雷(Chris Wray)管理，他们由科米(Comey)管理，因为这实际上甚至在政府执政之前，他们就一直在运行这些文件，我们发现的很多东西在我这里都是假的，”特朗普说。
尽管特朗普声称民主党人将东西“放”在文件中，但许多与爱泼斯坦有关的文件，包括提到特朗普和几位知名民主党人的文件，多年来一直是公开的。
白宫周四否决了为爱泼斯坦案任命特别检察官的想法。
“这个想法是媒体中的某个人向总统提出的。总统不会建议在爱泼斯坦案中设立特别检察官。这就是他的感受，”白宫新闻秘书卡罗琳·莱维特在新闻发布会上对记者说。
当被要求澄清爱泼斯坦传奇的哪一部分是特朗普声称的“骗局”时，莱维特只是继续批评民主党人。
她说:“总统指的是，民主党人现在抓住了这一点，好像他们在杰弗里·爱泼斯坦问题上曾经想要透明度，这对任何民主党人来说都是一个愚蠢的建议。”“民主党人控制了这座建筑，白宫，长达四年，他们没有做任何事情来透明杰弗里·爱泼斯坦和他的滔天罪行。”
爱泼斯坦于2019年被捕，并在特朗普担任总统期间等待性贩运指控的审判时死于狱中。司法部和美国联邦调查局的审查没有发现所谓的“客户名单”，并确认爱泼斯坦死于狱中自杀。
DOJ和美国联邦调查局上周发布的这份简短备忘录在特朗普的铁杆支持者中激起了愤怒多年来杰出的右翼人物推动对爱泼斯坦和保护精英的“深层国家”的指控。
特朗普此后寻求各种方式来扑灭这场政治风暴，为邦迪辩护，同时也表示她应该公布她认为“可信”的信息。
现在，他转而称爱泼斯坦的文件是一个“骗局”，那些质疑他的政府对它的处理是“愚蠢”和“愚蠢”的共和党支持者。
“一些天真的共和党人就像他们一直做的那样，站到了同一条线上，”总统在“只看新闻”节目中说
周三，国会山的几名共和党人呼吁提高爱普斯坦的透明度。特朗普自己的前副总统迈克·彭斯呼吁政府“公布所有”关于爱普斯坦调查的文件。
莱维特周四为政府对爱泼斯坦文件的处理进行了辩护，并试图让特朗普远离对此案的进一步决策。
莱维特说，这将取决于司法部和邦迪释放任何其他“可信”的证据。
“在编辑或大陪审团印章方面，这些是司法部的问题。这些也是法官们的问题，他们掌握着保密的信息。这需要申请和法官的批准。这超出了总统的控制范围，”当被问及为什么他们不公布这些文件时，她说，为了提供更多的透明度，敏感信息被编辑。
Trump, facing MAGA uproar over Epstein files, tries to shift blame elsewhere
Facing uproar in his MAGA base over the Jeffrey Epstein files, PresidentDonald Trumpcontinues to try to shift blame for the controversy to others, including onto Biden administration officials for what he calls a 'hoax."
Trump, in a phone interview with "Just the News" on Real America's Voice on Wednesday night, alleged without providing evidence that Democrats and former officials doctored files relating to the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender.
The comments came when Trump was asked if he wanted one prosecutor to look into the broad subject of political prosecution.
"Well, I think it's in the case of Epstein, they've already looked at it, and they are looking at it, and I think all they have to do is put out anything credible," Trump said.
"But you know, that was run by the Biden administration for four years. I can imagine what they put into files, just like they did with the others," Trump continued. "I mean, the Steele dossier was a total fake, right? It took two years to figure that out for the people, and all of the things that you mentioned were fake."
"So I would imagine if they were run by Chris Wray and they were run by Comey, and because it was actually even before that administration, they've been running these files, and so much of the things that we found were fake with me," Trump said.
Despite Trump's claims that Democrats "put" things in the files, many documents relating to Epstein, including those that mention Trump and several prominent Democrats, have been public for years.
And the White House on Thursday shut down the idea of appointing a special prosecutor in the Epstein case.
"The idea was floated from someone in the media to the president. The president would not recommend a special prosecutor in the Epstein case. That's how he feels," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at the briefing.
Asked to clarify what part of the Epstein saga is a "hoax" as Trump claimed, Leavitt only continued to criticize Democrats.
"The president is referring to the fact that Democrats have now seized on this as if they ever wanted transparency when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein, which is an asinine suggestion for any Democrat to make," she said. "The Democrats had control of this building, the White House, for four years, and they didn't do a dang thing when it came to transparency in regards to Jeffrey Epstein and his heinous crimes."
Epstein was arrested in 2019 and died in prison while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges while Trump was president. A review by the Justice Department and FBI found no so-called "client list" and confirmed Epstein died by suicide in prison.
The brief memo put out by the DOJ and FBI last week stoked furor among Trump's diehard supporters afteryears of prominent right-wing figurespushing accusations about Epstein and the "deep state" that's protecting elites.
Trump's since sought various ways to put out the political firestorm, coming to Bondi's defense while also saying she should release what she deems "credible."
Now, he's shifted to calling the Epstein files a "hoax" and those Republican supporters who are questioning his administration's handling of it as "stupid" and "foolish."
"Some of the naive Republicans fall right into line, like they always do," the president said on "Just the News."
Calls for transparency on Epstein came from several Republicans on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. And Trump's own former vice president, Mike Pence, called for the administration to "release all of the files" regarding the Epstein investigation.
Leavitt on Thursday defended the administration's handling of the Epstein files and attempted to distance Trump from further decision-making on the case.
Leavitt said it would be up to the Justice Department and Bondi release any other "credible" evidence.
“In terms of redactions or grand jury seals, those are questions for the Department of Justice. Those are also questions for the judges who have that information under a seal. And that would have to be requested and judge would have to approve it. That's out of the president's control,” she said when asked why they wouldn’t release the files, with sensitive information redacted, in order to provide more transparency.
