Can Trump shake his Epstein problem?
The Story
The Times
4 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 22 July 2025
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
With President Trump due to touch down on British soil this week, he seems unable to escape the shadow of Jeffrey Epstein. So why is Trump finding this story so hard to shake?
This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestory
Guest: Katy Balls, Washington Editor and Columnist, The Times and The Sunday Times.
Host: Luke Jones.
Producer: Edith Rousselot.
Read more:
- Jeffrey Epstein is a dead weight Trump needs to shake off
- Why Maga won’t let Trump ignore his Epstein problem
Clips: ABC News, @AcountableGop account via X, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, The New York Times, Tucker Carlson via YouTube.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From The Times and the Sunday Times, this is the story. |
| 0:05.0 | I'm Luke Jones. |
| 0:07.0 | The mystery of establishment dead paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and what the US government knows about his crimes and demise, |
| 0:22.6 | is not going away. |
| 0:25.1 | After Donald Trump promised transparency, a release of previously secret Epstein files, |
| 0:30.3 | a draining of this particularly murky swamp, |
| 0:32.6 | the memo eventually put out by his Justice Department didn't, |
| 0:40.2 | well, it didn't go down well amongst Trump fans. This is the first topic that all of us as Americans, |
| 0:44.3 | not as Democrats, not as liberals, as Republicans, |
| 0:47.0 | are actually lining together and saying, |
| 0:49.4 | we all want the Epstein files. |
| 0:52.6 | And I say, come on, Donald, give us those files. |
| 0:54.9 | J.D. Vance, Don Jr., Alina Haba, many of the president's surrogates have been stirring the |
| 1:00.6 | Epstein pot now for years. And so, you know, we are owed more than a two-page memo being like, |
| 1:07.2 | there's no they're there, now move on. If they don't release his, the Epstein files, |
| 1:13.3 | whatever J.D. Vance says then is irrelevant because it's like everybody's going to take it as like a lie. |
| 1:15.9 | Because of what Donald Trump did. |
| 1:17.7 | No matter who's on them, we need to have released the Epstein files. |
| 1:21.6 | We now have the promise of more documents being released |
| 1:24.2 | and no sign that this saga is going to stop haunting the US president. |
| 1:39.3 | The story today, will Trump shake his Epstein problem? |
| 1:57.8 | My name is Katie Balls and I'm the Washington editor of the Times and Sunday Times. |
... |
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