MSNBC contributor Joyce Vance argued on the network Wednesday afternoon that “it’s impossible to separate” Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged pedophilia with President Trump.
Epstein, who pleaded guilty to two state-level prostitution solicitation charges back in 2008, was charged with sex trafficking and conspiracy earlier this week. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta, the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, was instrumental in Epstein’s plea deal. He held a press conference earlier on Wednesday to defend his handling of the 2008 case against Epstein.
“But the world as it should be, we should be covering a president or a White House or a secretary of labor who once served as a prosecutor who’s saving all of their condemnation and fire for the monster in this story, and that’s Jeffrey Epstein,” MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace stated. “Is it stunning to you as a former federal prosecutor that no one is talking about Donald Trump being repulsed by Epstein’s alleged conduct?”
“You know, it is so hard I think to avoid the comparison between Epstein and Trump. Of course, one is under indictment. The other is not. But there are similar and credible allegations of this kind of conduct. And somehow, Epstein becomes a little bit of a marker for Trump here,” Vance responded. “Trump’s inability to fire Acosta in the face of the way he conducted this investigation is, I think, something that looked very personal to Trump. It’s impossible to separate the two.”
Axios’ Jonathan Swan interjected, “I think we should be clear one of them is an industrial-scale pedophile and sex trafficker, just a small distinction. But with Acosta, the thing that really a lot of people will be horrified about today is sort of, like, the world has changed almost as if it was like trying to align this with the #MeToo movement. This was sex trafficking and pedophilia.”
Trump said Tuesday that he “was not a fan” of Epstein, despite having called him a “terrific guy” who “likes beautiful women … on the younger side,” according to a 2002 article.
