A new book about Jeffrey Epstein claims that the financier and sex criminal told stories about Presidents Clinton and Trump to fellow inmates at a Manhattan prison before his death, Newsweek reports.
In The Spider: Inside the Criminal Web of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, reporter Barry Levine writes that a prison acquaintance of Epstein recalled the late sex offender recounting a story about Trump wanting to take a “French girl” to his casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
According to the account, Epstein demurred, saying, “I’m not landing in Atlantic City, all you have is white trash down there.” When the girl, whose age isn’t specified, asked what “white trash” meant, Trump responded, “That would be me without money.”
Epstein also claimed that Clinton used to be a “lothario,” but was forced to abandon that lifestyle after undergoing heart surgeries.
In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to a charge of procuring a minor for prostitution, and served over a year in custody in a widely criticized plea deal. He was arrested in 2019 and charged with sex trafficking; he died in jail a month later. His death was ruled a suicide by hanging.
The Spider, which Penguin Random House imprint Crown describes as a “dogged work of reporting” about Epstein and longtime friend Ghislaine Maxwell, was published today.
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
