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Former President Donald Trump and his campaign broke one of the most obvious unwritten rules of electioneering: never do anything to remind voters of your previous, yet-to-be-fully-explained relationship with one of the world’s most notorious child molesters.
Nonetheless, the Trump campaign says it has a perfectly good reason the candidate recently used a plane previously owned by the late Jeffrey Epstein to get to various campaign stops, as the Miami Herald reported.
According to the report:
Former President Donald Trump’s campaign flew in a blue Gulfstream jet formerly owned by sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, using it to travel to several campaign fundraisers over the weekend, the Miami Herald has confirmed. Trump, en route on his own private plane to a campaign event in Bozeman, Montana last week, unexpectedly landed in Billings because of mechanical problems, a campaign spokeswoman said. He and part of his staff then flew on a small charter to Bozeman for a rally Friday night. The next day, he switched to another larger Gulfstream with a serial number that matches a plane once owned by Epstein, his former neighbor in Palm Beach, the campaign confirmed.
The Herald went into a bit more detail later in the report, explaining how Trump’s decals had been placed on Epstein’s old plane so it resembled the one he owns.
Per the Herald:
The campaign spokeswoman confirmed that a decal with the words “Trump 2024” was placed on Epstein’s old plane for the trip. Trump’s own private plane, a 757 named “Trump Force One,” was having mechanical difficulties, which led them to land in Billings, about two hours east of Bozeman. After Bozeman, Trump used Epstein’s old plane to travel Saturday to a fundraiser in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and then to Aspen and Denver. “Trump Force One” was then able to pick Trump up in Denver. Epstein’s old plane was only used one day, the spokeswoman said.
So there you have it, folks. Sure, Trump has flown on Epstein’s private jets plenty of times in the past, for reasons that remain unclear. But this time is different from all those times in that this one might just be coincidental. Glad the Trump camp cleared that up.
Still, I’d argue anything that even potentially reminds voters of Trump’s past experiences partying with Epstein or the fact Trump wished Epstein’s co-conspirator well in his sex trafficking case could be considered an own goal at this point.