Donald Trump insisted he had never been to Jeffrey Epstein’s private island, Little Saint James, telling reporters: “By the way, I never went to the island. And Bill Clinton went there, supposedly, 28 times.”
He added: “I never had the privilege of going to his island, and I did turn it down.
“In one of my very good moments, I turned it down; I didn’t want to go to his island.”
His comments came as he met with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to discuss trade, Gaza, and other issues.
Asked about the Epstein files, the US president said: “It’s a hoax that’s been built up way beyond proportion. I can say this, those files were run by the worst scum on Earth. They were run by (former FBI director James) Comey, they were run by (former US attorney general Merrick) Garland, they were run by (former president Joe) Biden, and all of the people that actually ran the government.”
“Those files were run by these people. They were run by my enemy. If there was anything in there, they would have used them for the election,” he added.
The president also said: “I’m not a drawing person”, as he was asked about a letter to Epstein, written more than two decades ago, that reportedly included a sketched outline of a naked woman.
He said: “I’m not a drawing person. I don’t do drawings. Sometimes you would say, would you draw a building? And I’ll draw four lines and a little roof, you know, for a charity stuff, but I’m not a drawing person.
“I don’t do drawings of women, that I can tell you.”
Mr Trump also said he had not been asked to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell.
Ms Maxwell, the former partner of dead sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, is in prison in the US over child sex trafficking offences.
Questioned whether he had been asked to give the British woman a pardon, the US president told reporters: “Well, I’m allowed to give her a pardon, but nobody’s approached me with it. Nobody’s asked me about it.
“It’s in the news – that aspect of it – but right now, it would be inappropriate to talk about it.”