A former employee of sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein repeatedly asked federal authorities to look into Donald Trump while accusing Epstein of sexual assault.
Maria Farmer first accused Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell of misconduct in 1996, telling her story to the New York Police Department and the FBI. In both instances, she urged the investigators to look into Epstein’s associate, Trump. Speaking to the New York Times, Farmer said she had an unsettling encounter with the president in Epstein’s office in 1995.
Farmer said she went to Epstein’s office in response to a late-night call. When Trump arrived, he made Farmer uncomfortable. In her telling, Trump leered at her legs until Epstein said, “No, no. She’s not here for you.” She added that she heard Trump comment from the next room that he thought she was a minor.
Farmer said she pressed the FBI to look into Trump when they interviewed her a second time in 2006.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung denied the story.
“The president was never in his office,” he told the Times. “The fact is that the president kicked him out of his club for being a creep.”
The report comes as Trump scrambles to distance himself from Epstein. The president angered much of his base when his Department of Justice balked at releasing more information around Epstein’s case. In the days since, reports have revealed Trump’s closeness to the convicted sex criminal.
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The president has tried several different strategies to make the story go away. He began by waving away questions about Epstein before painting the news as a “hoax” perpetrated by Democrats. In recent days, he has fired an Epstein prosecutor and threatened to sue media outlets over reports about their friendship.
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