This archive report was first published on 11 August 2019.
On a day when President Trump expressed outrage on Twitter over what he called 'dishonest' and 'inaccurate' coverage of his presidency, he took to the platform to share a conspiracy theory about the death of financier Jeffrey Epstein.
According to the theory, Epstein's death was orchestrated by former President Bill Clinton, a claim that has been thoroughly debunked by Clinton's team. In a statement released in July, Clinton's spokesman, Angel Ureña, said that the former president had taken several trips with Epstein on his private plane in 2002 and 2003, but that the men had not spoken in more than a decade.
Clinton 'knows nothing about the terrible crimes' of which Epstein has been accused, Ureña said, adding that the former president had been sentenced in one case. The statement was released in response to a New York Times article that reported on Clinton's ties to Epstein.
Trump's retweets of the conspiracy theory have sparked outrage, with many accusing him of perpetuating a baseless and hurtful narrative. The theory has been widely debunked, and many have pointed out that it is a classic example of a 'conspiracy theory' that is often used to smear political opponents.
Trump's actions have also been criticized by Senator Marco Rubio, who said that the 'immediate rush to spread conspiracy theories' about Epstein's death was 'why our society is so vulnerable to foreign disinformation & influence efforts.'
Earlier on Saturday, a senior appointee at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Lynne Patton, posted a headline about Epstein's death on Instagram, perpetuating a debunked right-wing narrative. Patton also referred to Vincent Foster, the Clinton White House counsel who died by suicide in 1994, a crucial episode in the unfounded theory tying the Clintons to allegedly suspicious deaths.
Trump's retweets of the conspiracy theory are particularly notable given his history of ridiculing and taunting the Clintons. After defeating Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, Trump repeatedly suggested that he might imprison her, and has since ridiculed both Clintons on social media.
