White House Downplays Reports of Trump, Epstein “I Heart Pedophilia” Friendship Bracelets
WASHINGTON—On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt denied reports that President Donald Trump had been gifted a friendship bracelet bearing the words “I [Heart Symbol] Pedophilia” by the deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“Let me be absolutely clear,” Leavitt told reporters at a morning press conference, “The president does not ‘heart’ pedophilia, nor does he own any homemade jewelry indicating that he does. And if he does, it’s as a joke. And if it’s not a joke, the Democrats did something worse probably.”
The friendship bracelet was first reported on by The New York Times, whose reporters spoke to multiple anonymous sources familiar with the House Oversight Committee’s review of material obtained from Epstein’s estate via a subpoena issued in August. Other gifts Trump reportedly received over the course of his friendship with the late financier included a coffee mug with the financier’s face on it and a T-shirt reading “I went to Epstein Island and all I got was this lousy T-shirt, as well as multiple opportunities to commit sex crimes against underage girls.”
In a post on Truth Social, the president forcefully denied the reported gifts. “I would never accept one of Jeff’s UGLY bracelets,” Trump wrote on Tuesday. “He was ALWAYS trying to pawn those pieces of CRAP (pardon my language!) off on everybody even though NOBODY WANTED THEM! Get a clue JEFF!”
In a series of further posts, Trump clarified that he had never met Epstein, that he hadn’t spoken to him since 2004, that Epstein “wasn’t as bad as people say,” that he hadn’t spoken to him since 2007, that he was “not even totally sure who this guy was,” that the Epstein files were a hoax, that he wasn’t in the Epstein files, that the Epstein files weren’t a big deal, that “lots and lots of Obama people were in these files,” and that he hadn’t spoken to Epstein since 2002.
Asked to comment on these allegations, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, a fellow Republican, told reporters that he hadn’t been following the story closely, but added, “I’m certain that what the president has said, no matter what it is, is completely true and accurate. Let me also say that he’s a really cool guy–and handsome, as well.”
Other notable figures rumored to have received similar gifts from Epstein include former President Bill Clinton, Britain’s Prince Andrew, [REDACTED], [REDACTED], [REDACTED], and most surprisingly, [REDACTED].
Griffin is co-editor-in-chief for this paper, and was born early in the morning.
