A CNN journalist speculated President Trump sent a “signal” to Ghislaine Maxwell, who is facing federal charges for conspiring with the late Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse underage children.
Dana Bash, who is chief political correspondent for the cable news network, reacted with suspicion after Trump said, “I wish [Maxwell] well,” during a White House press conference on Tuesday.
“It was stunning, especially since as president of the United States, the answer should have been, I’m not going to comment, it’s an ongoing federal investigation,” Bash said Wednesday on New Day.
Claiming this was “a classic Trump M.O.,” Bash asserted “that turn of phrase, ‘I wish her well,’ is the same kind of turn of phrase that he used for people like Roger Stone and Paul Manafort and others who he later, you know, gave help to.”
“But it seemed at the time was trying to send a signal to,” she added. “And that’s how I took it. That he wanted to use the opportunity to, you know, get it out into the ether that, you know, he’s on her side, whatever that means, for whatever reason.”
Maxwell was charged with conspiring with Epstein to recruit, groom, and sexually abuse underage girls, as well as perjury in depositions. She was denied bail after pleading not guilty to the charges.
During the press conference, Trump also noted that he has met Maxwell “numerous times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach. I guess they lived in Palm Beach. But I wish her well, whatever it is.”
The charging document against Maxwell said that “as a part and in furtherance of their scheme to abuse minor victims,” Maxwell and Epstein “enticed and caused minor victims to travel to Epstein’s residences in different states,” including Epstein’s New York City mansion, his Palm Beach estate, his New Mexico ranch, and Maxwell’s London apartment, and that Maxwell “knew and intended [this action] would result in their grooming for and subjection to sexual abuse” by Epstein.
Epstein, 66, a registered sex offender and wealthy financier, was arrested last July on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges for allegedly abusing girls as young as 14. He was found dead in his Manhattan prison cell in August, which the New York City medical examiner determined to be a suicide. Prosecutors claimed Epstein built a “vast network of underage victims.”
