The only conspiracy Trump considers boring, by Jonathan Chait
Today’s must-read: Trump’s theory of the Epstein case is fanciful. But it isn’t dull.

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Sometimes people sound guilty even if they aren’t. But “whatever probability you had in your mind that the Epstein files contain damaging material, you should probably raise it after listening to Trump’s remarks on the subject,” Jonathan Chait argues.

(Illustration by The Atlantic*)

Donald Trump had two opportunities yesterday, and another this morning, to dispel any nagging sense that he is hiding incriminating information about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. He did not make the most of them. Instead, he delivered an impersonation of a cornered man coated in flop sweat desperately trying to talk his way out.

Appearing on the White House lawn in the morning, the president responded to a question about whether Attorney General Pam Bondi had briefed him on the Epstein investigation.

“She’s given us just a very quick briefing, and in terms of the credibility of the different things that they’ve seen,” Trump replied, “I would say that, you know, these files were made up by Comey, they were made up by Obama, they were made up by the Biden infor—and we went through years of that, with the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax.”

This was a rather strange statement.


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