Why Jimmy Kimmel Doubts Claim Trump Had Epstein Killed
Kimmel said there’s an obvious way to tell Trump was not likely the culprit.
Jimmy Kimmel doesn’t think Donald Trump killed Jeffrey Epstein.
Citing Trump biographer Michael Wolff’s comments around the theory that the president could have been involved in the disgraced pedophile financier’s death, which Wolff also shared on The Daily Beast podcast, Kimmel said he’s not convinced for one simple reason.
“I don’t think Donald Trump ordered a hit on Jeffrey Epstein,” the host said. “And the reason I don’t think he ordered a hit is because if he did, he wouldn’t be able to shut up about it.”
“‘He was not a good guy. He’s a bad guy. Now, thanks to your favorite president, he’s gone,’” Kimmel said, mimicking a hypothetical Trump if he were to have ordered Epstein killed. “‘I killed two Jeffreys—Epstein and the Toys R Us giraffe—gone,’” he went on, to big laughs from the audience.
Both Trump and Epstein spent years boasting about their close relationship.
Davidoff Studios Photography/Getty Images
Epstein was found hanging in his jail cell in 2019, where he was being held while facing sex trafficking charges. His death was officially ruled a suicide, but Trump’s backtracking on revealing more details about Epstein’s associates and dealings put a spotlight on his history with the convicted sex predator—especially as Epstein had described Trump as his “best friend” before his death.
“There’s a lot of speculation naturally, including from the writer Michael Wolff, who wrote a bunch of books about Trump,” Kimmel said playing a clip during his monologue. Wolff told The Daily Beast podcast that someone who spoke to Trump recently told him that “A lot of people wanted [Epstein] dead”—a comment the biographer said he found “chilling” at the time.
JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE - Emmy Award-nominated "Jimmy Kimmel Live" airs every weeknight (11:35 p.m. - 12:41 a.m., ET), packed with hilarious comedy bits and features a diverse lineup of guests including celebrities, athletes, musicians, comedians and humorous human interest subjects. The guests for Wednesday, December 16 included Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump and musical guest Gary Clark Jr. (Photo by Randy Holmes/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images) DONALD TRUMP, JIMMY KIMMEL
Randy Holmes/Disney General Entertainment Con
Trump’s White House communications director Steven Cheung told The Daily Beast that Wolff “routinely fabricates stories originating from his sick and warped imagination” and that he “has a severe and debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted his peanut-sized brain.”
“Listen, I have an idea of how you can get people to stop talking about releasing the Epstein files,” Kimmel added in his monologue, mocking Trump’s attempts to sweep the whole thing under the rug. “Release the Epstein files!”
“What is he hiding? There has to be something in there about him. I can’t imagine him doing this because he cares about anyone else,” he quipped. “This Epstein list, it’s the first time Trump didn’t want his name on something.”
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