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The Questions the Press Must Ask Trump about the Epstein Scandal

Despite a ton of coverage, there is a lot that we still don't know about Trump's efforts to hide his relationship with a child sex trafficker

Dan Pfeiffer

Jul 27

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My political career began at the moment when the scandal over Bill Clinton perjuring himself about an extramarital affair exploded onto the political scene (yes, I am very old and getting older by the minute). I was a White House intern at the time and vividly remember watching Mike McCurry, the White House press secretary, get hammered with question after question about what Clinton was accused of doing. McCurry had to answer those questions—or very publicly refuse to comment—for the world to see. Whenever President Clinton had a public event, the White House press corps shouted questions at him, and his refusal to answer became a nightly news staple.

Donald Trump’s government-wide effort to cover up information about his relationship with a notorious child sex trafficker is a major scandal—bigger than the one Clinton faced.

And yet, Trump and his White House are not bombarded with the same daily questions that Clinton or any other president would have encountered. Trump is insulated from scrutiny because his aides simply ignore reporters. They don’t return phone calls or even offer a “no comment.” Trump has stacked the White House press pool and briefing room with compliant, pro-MAGA propagandists. This week—just 24 hours after the bombshell Wall Street Journal report that Trump had been briefed on his name appearing in the Epstein files—Trump took questions from the White House press pool, and no one asked him a single question about it.

I do not doubt that the press is actively pursuing this story, but Trump has made it so all of the scrutiny is happening behind the scenes. This dynamic helps Trump because the public can’t see him avoiding the tough questions.

There are so many questions the public deserves answers to—but Trump is not being forced to publicly reckon with them. Here’s my take on the questions the press must ask Trump:

Did Trump ever attend a party or gathering at Epstein's properties where underage girls were present?

In a 2010 deposition, Epstein pleaded the Fifth when asked:

“Have you ever socialized with Donald Trump in the presence of females under the age of 18?”

Epstein’s belief that answering this question could somehow incriminate him is, to say the least, notable. The President should have to answer the same question. While I fully expect Trump to lie, he should be forced to go on the record about what Epstein wouldn’t...