By Paul Bean
Representative Becca Balint (D-VT) has reignited calls for the full release of Jeffrey Epstein’s long-speculated “client list” and related files, pointing to President Donald Trump’s past associations with the disgraced financier.
In a post on X late Thursday, Rep. Balint accused the Trump administration of attempting to bury the issue, sharing vintage photos of Trump alongside Epstein and others, including Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former associate now serving a prison sentence.
“All the MAGA infighting over the Epstein files comes down to this: Trump knew this was a popular issue with his base, so he ran on it,” wrote Balint. “ Loudly and daily. Now he wants to bury it because he and his friends and his donors are probably implicated. Release the files,” she continued.
The post sparked heated debate online and comes after the Justice Department memo released earlier this week. The report, confirming Epstein’s 2019 death as a suicide with no evidence of a compromising “client list,” has failed to quell public and political pressure.
The photos shared by Balint, sourced from Getty Images and dated to the 1990s, show Trump in casual and formal settings with Epstein, including one image with Maxwell and a woman identified as a model.
While no evidence suggests illegal activity, the images have fueled speculation. As the debate intensifies, the White House has maintained that all relevant documents have been disclosed, with Trump dismissing billionaire Elon Musk’s claim that he is named in the files.
In 2019, following Epstein’s arrest on new federal sex trafficking charges and his subsequent death in a Manhattan jail, Trump commented on the case. During a press conference, he stated that he was “not a fan” of Epstein and had not spoken to him in about 15 years.
When asked about cooperation with authorities, Trump did not explicitly claim to have assisted the FBI but said, “I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him,” suggesting a casual acquaintance rather than a deep involvement.
President Trump allegedly banned Jeffrey Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, according to a book titled The Grifter’s Club (2020) . The decision to ban Epstein stemmed from Epstein allegedly making unwanted advances toward a member’s teenage daughter, an action Trump took to protect his brand’s reputation, likely in the mid-2000s before Epstein’s 2008 guilty plea, though no official records confirm the exact date.