Why Epstein's Shadow Still Haunts Trump

The Daily Beast Podcast

The Daily Beast

News & Politics

4.6 • 7.9K Ratings

🗓️ 25 December 2025

⏱️ 170 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Joanna Coles revisits some of The Daily Beast’s most disturbing and revealing conversations about Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. Michael Wolff explains why Epstein’s shadow still looms over Trump, while Stacey Williams and Cleo Glyde recount encounters that expose the brazen culture of power and silence surrounding them. Tina Brown reflects on the scandal she helped uncover and why its consequences continue to fracture Trump’s world. Together, these voices reveal how wealth and influence conceal dark truths—and why the reckoning is far from over.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Joanna Coles. This is The Daily Beast podcast. And over the past year, we've taken you deep into some of the most shocking, twisted and revealing corners of the Trump and Epstein worlds. And today we're looking back at some of our most extraordinary episodes. We've had Michael Wolfe, the prolific Trump chronicler, walk us through the explosive fallout between Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
0:25.1	Remember Elon and explain why Jeffrey Epstein's shadow still looms over the 47th president of the United States.
0:33.2	I sat down with Stacey Williams, a former Sports Illustrated model, who told her story of encounters with Epstein and Trump,
0:41.2	moments that revealed just how brazen and, frankly, revolting these men were.
0:47.0	We were also joined by Cleo Glyde, who at just 22, enjoyed the glamour of New York's fashion scene in the 80s when she was a model and found
0:56.2	herself swept into Epstein's orbit, meeting Trump through him and seeing the glittering
1:02.2	dangerous mix of power and charm that masked the darker truths. We revisited the scandal that shook
1:09.0	the world with Tina Brown, who not only broke the Epstein story decades ago,
1:14.1	but now reflects on why this scandal continues to haunt Trump
1:18.3	and has fractured his base from within.
1:21.4	And finally, Michael Wolfe returned to unpack Epstein's shadowy empire,
1:26.0	his ties to mager figures, and the unspoken truths surrounding
1:30.1	the pedophiles' ignominious end. Each of these conversations is a window into ambition,
1:37.3	power, and the moral compromises that surround it, and I promise you won't want to miss a moment.
1:43.2	So stay with me, because we're diving back
1:46.0	into it all. Michael, when we last spoke less than 24 hours ago, we were waiting for Donald Trump
1:57.3	to respond to Elon Musk's criticism of the big, beautiful bill.
2:02.7	Now we seem to be into a full-on W-W-E fight. Explain what's going on.
2:12.8	You know, well, as we discussed yesterday, everybody comes a cropper with Donald Trump.
2:19.5	Donald Trump is going to screw you and you're going to be screwed.
2:24.2	So there has never been someone in a position to try to screw Donald Trump back.
2:31.8	And so we have a new paradigm, the richest man in the world and the most powerful man in the
	...

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