President Trump has repeatedly downplayed his association with convicted sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell and has urged the country to move on from the issue, but it continues to be a hot button matter.

President Donald Trump was taken aback by speculation that he was personally involved in Jeffrey Epstein’s 2019 jail cell death, author Michael Wolff said on the latest edition of. The biographer said the lingering controversy over Trump’s ties to Epstein resulted in the president having to deny culpability for his one-time friend’s demise.

Piecemeal attempts to change the subject, including a call to prosecute Barack Obama over an alleged conspiracy in the 2016 Russiagate affair, have failed to quell the chatter around the Epstein files and Trump’s ties to the late financier and sex offender.