Right-wingers like Alex Jones and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) have long accused LGBTQ+ people and allies of being “groomers” and pedophiles. But they’re making excuses now that former President Donald Trump may soon be unveiled as one of 200 people connected to child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. 

A judge has recently unsealed and uncensored previously redacted court documents that name up to 200 associates of Epstein. The documents were unsealed in a lawsuit brought by Epstein victim Virginia Guiffre. Guiffre accused Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell of forcing her to have sex with Epstein’s powerful and wealthy friends, including Britain’s Prince Andrew — something Prince Andrew has denied.

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Trump’s name is expected to appear alongside former President Bill Clinton’s in the un-redacted files since Epstein’s flight logs have already shown that they flew on Epstein’s private Boeing 727 plane. The plane was nicknamed the “Lolita Express,” after Vladimir Nabokov’s 1955 pedophilia novel, due to the frequent delivery of apparently underage women to Epstein’s privately owned island of Little Saint James. Epstein pleaded guilty to sex with a 14-year-old girl in 2008 and was undergoing investigation for other possible sex crimes before his suspicious August 2019 suicide at a New York prison.

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There’s no evidence that Clinton or Trump ever visited the island, and neither have been charged with a crime related to Epstein. Nevertheless, Jones and Greene are already pushing a conspiracy theory that any mention of Trump in the un-redacted files will be due to “deep state” federal operatives trying to smear the former president.

Jones, the host of InfoWars whose social media accounts and guests have repeatedly accused LGBTQ+ people and their allies of pedophilia, recently said, “If they put out a client list, and that’s possible that it could be fake, because Epstein’s dead. And that’s something very possible.” Jones said the CIA had previously committed similar actions in connection with the Israeli and British intelligence agencies.

Defending Trump, Jones added, “[Trump] gets devoted to one woman at a time, gets totally obsessed with them, totally nice to them.” Despite Jones’s claim, at least 26 women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct, including extra-marital affairs. 

Greene, whose anti-LGBTQ+ tweets about grooming and pedophilia have spread far on social media, has tried to deflect any association between Epstein and Trump by focusing on Clinton instead.

“For some us, it’s no surprise at all that Bill Clinton will be named in the Jeffrey Epstein files,” she wrote in a January 3 X post. “We said it a long time ago but they labeled us conspiracy theorists. There will be lots of names you’ve never heard of and the IC collected info on them. Pedophiles belong in jail not on secret government lists.”

Several X commenters asked if she’ll hold Trump to the same standard if he’s named in the un-redacted documents. 

 In a 2002 interview with New York Magazine, Trump said “I’ve known Jeff[rey Epstein] for 15 years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”

However, in 2019, soon after Epstein was taken into custody by New York authorities, Trump said he had a “falling-out” with Epstein about 15 years ago, adding, “I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you.” Trump allegedly banned Epstein from his resort in Mar-a-Lago, Florida in the early 2000s after Epstein expressed interest in a club member’s teenage daughter.