A s the questions surrounding Jeffrey Epstein’s life and death—questions that Donald Trump once helped whip up—tornadoed into their bajillionth news cycle, the president’s team began to privately debate ways to calm the furor: appoint a special counsel to investigate.

1997 Trump and Epstein were photographed standing near each other at a Victoria’s Secret “Angels” party, according to a Getty image of Trump posing with model Ingrid Seynhaeve that shows Epstein in the background.

President Donald Trump called an obsession with the Jeffrey Epstein files a "hoax" and a "scam" by political opponents to distract from his successes.