(The Hill) – President Trump denounced reports of his association with Jeffrey Epstein Tuesday, arguing he had never been on the convicted sex trafficker’s plane or “stupid island” after images of the two made by artificial intelligence (AI) surfaced online.
“This is what the Democrats do to their Republican Opponent, who is leading them, by a lot, in the Polls. This is A.I., and it is very dangerous for our Country!” Trump posted on his Truth Social site. “I was never on Epstein’s Plane, or at his ‘stupid’ Island. Strong Laws ought to be developed against A.I. It will be a big and very dangerous problem in the future!”
The former president included screenshots from an article by The Daily Mail that details actor Mark Ruffalo apologizing for posting the AI photos of the former president and Epstein on his plane.
The comments also come after court documents related to Epstein’s decades of sexual abuse were recently unsealed. In the release, approximately 150 people who were included in previously redacted parts of a settled civil suit against Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell were made public.
Names of powerful people previously associated with Epstein — who died in a Manhattan jail in 2019 — such as Prince Andrew, former President Clinton and Trump, were mentioned in the documents, but they provided little information outside what was already known.
The Daily Mail article highlights Ruffalo’s post about Trump’s potential ties to Epstein, acknowledging that the actor didn’t know the photos were generated by AI at the time of his initial post.
“Gross. #MAGA wants to paint everyone on those flights as pedophiles except the one guy who smiles in a group of young girls all headed to Epstein’s ‘Fantasy Island’ with him,” Ruffalo posted Jan. 4 on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “My bet is there are some decent republicans left in America that may think this is going too far.”
Readers on X used a fact-checking ability on the social media app to provide context that the images were AI-generated.
“Sorry Folks. Apparently these images are AI fakes,” the posted on Jan. 6. “The fact that Trump was on Epstein’s plane and what Epstein was up to is not. Be careful.”
“Elon’s X and his allowing so much disinformation here is driving the value of his app down by 55%,” he added, taking a stab at owner Elon Musk.
The release of documents adds to the speculation about who could be named a possible “co-conspirator” of Epstein’s decades of abuse. Maxwell, his former girlfriend, is currently serving a 20-year sentence for allegedly assisting the former financier.