President Trump revealed the reason why he severed ties with Jeffrey Epstein, saying the disgraced financier stole workers from Mar-A-Lago.
Trump's past friendship with Epstein is back in the spotlight as the White House confronts backlash over its handling of the Epstein files.
Democrats have seized on the issue, and Trump's critics in the "fake news" media have hammered the story non-stop.
Much of the recent reporting on Trump and Epstein has done little more than rehash old details of their past friendship, which ended well before Epstein's first arrest in 2006.
It has long been known that Trump and Epstein socialized for some years before they had a falling out in 2004, reportedly over real estate.
While answering questions in Scotland on Monday, Trump repeated his assertion that the Epstein story is a "hoax" that has been blown up "way beyond proportion" by his enemies. But Trump nevertheless offered some new details about his relationship with Epstein and the way it unraveled.
"That’s such old history, very easy to explain, but I don’t want to waste your time by explaining it," Trump said.
The president explained that Epstein became "persona non grata" after hiring some of Trump's employees.
“He hired help. And I said ‘Don’t ever do that again.’ He stole people that worked for me,” Trump continued. “I said, ‘Don’t never do that again.’ He did it again. And I threw him out of the place, persona non grata. I threw him out, and that was it. I’m glad I did, if you want to know the truth.”
Addressing claims in the Wall Street Journal that he was named in the Epstein files, Trump said his predecessors would have released the files if they contained anything incriminating about him.
"Those files were run by the worst scum on earth... If they had anything I assume they would have released it. The whole thing is a hoax," Trump said.
"They can easily put something in the files that's a phony," Trump added, invoking the fake Trump-Russia dossier that was used to derail his first term.
Even if Trump is named in the files, that does not imply that he was involved in any wrongdoing.
Trump was one of several high-profile people who flew on Epstein's private jet, including Bill Clinton, who Trump alleged went to Epstein's infamous island "28 times."
"Bill Clinton went there, supposedly, 28 times ... And many other people that are very big people. Nobody ever talks about them," Trump said.
“I never had the privilege of going to his island. And I did turn it down,” Trump added.
“But a lot of people in Palm Beach were invited to his island. In one of my very good moments, I turned it down. I didn’t want to go to his island.”
