What did Donald Trump do today?
He said a female reporter asking about victims of child sex trafficking should smile more.
Trump had this exchange with CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins today:
COLLINS: A lot of women who were, are survivors of Epstein's are unhappy with those redactions that came out. Some of them, entire witness interviews are totally blacked out. Do you think that they should be more transparent—
TRUMP: Well, they're also unhappy with the thought that they released too much, you know, I heard that, and you tell me something else, well. Uh, I think it's really time for the country to get on to something else. And now that, uh, nothing came out about me other than — it was a conspiracy against me, literally by Epstein, and other people. But I think it's time now for the country to maybe get on to something else.
Trump is correct about one thing: many of Epstein's surviving victims are furious that their personal information was carelessly—or possibly deliberately—left exposed, even as the names of Epstein's closest associates were blacked out. They also complained about Trump's DOJ publishing unredacted nude images of girls and young women. One survivor called it "weaponized incompetence."
There's no evidence of an anti-Trump conspiracy in the documents that have been released so far, although Trump's name appears thousands of times in the files. For example, one witness submitted a sworn affidavit in a 2016 lawsuit brought by another victim saying that she witnessed Trump sexually abusing girls, and that Trump threatened the plaintiff's life.
Collins then followed up:
COLLINS: Well what would you say to people who feel like they haven't gotten justice, Mr. President.
TRUMP: Like healthcare, or something that people care about. Yeah, what did you say? Go ahead.
COLLINS: What would you say to the survivors who feel like they haven't gotten justice?
TRUMP [crosstalk]: CNN. You are so bad, you know, you are the worst reporter. No wonder C — CNN has no ratings because of people like you. You know she's a young woman, I don't think I've ever seen you smile. I've known you for ten years. I don't think I've ever seen a smile on your face.
COLLINS: Well I'm asking about survivors of Jeffrey Epstein—
TRUMP: You know why you're not smiling? 'Cause you know you're not telling the truth, and you're, uh, you're a very dishonest organization.
Trump's handlers ended the press availability almost immediately afterwards.
Why does this matter?
- There's a reason most people don't want to "maybe get on to something else" when the subject is a massive child sex trafficking ring.
- Kaitlan Collins not smiling enough when discussing the trafficking and rape of children by Trump's close friend is not the problem for anyone but Donald Trump.