He—the president, their leader, the martyr who had endured scandals and prosecution and an assassin’s bullet on their behalf—had repeatedly told them it was time to move on, and that alone should suffice. Why, he groused, would the White House add fuel to the fire, would it play into the media’s narrative?

Trump previously had a relationship with the late disgraced financier, who died in a jail cell in 2019 as he awaited a trial on sex trafficking charges.

The persisting furor over files related to accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein has forced President Donald Trump into an unfamiliar role: trying to shut a conspiracy theory down.