President Donald Trump sought Tuesday to distract from the growing furor over his administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal by pushing extraordinary claims that Barack Obama tried to mount a coup.
The accusations, delivered in the Oval Office, followed a surprise announcement that Trump's Department of Justice would question an imprisoned, key former assistant to Epstein.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement on X that disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, serving a 20-year sentence for her role in Epstein's alleged pedophile scheme, would be queried for new information. "No lead is off-limits," Blanche said.
However, the show of transparency appeared to be part of a concerted effort by the White House and Trump's allies to quell speculation about the convicted sex offender, who was long rumored to be a pedophile pimp to the powerful and who committed suicide in his prison cell in 2019.