One of President Donald Trump's former employees during his previous career as a hotelier is now accusing him of using the federal government's resources to paper over his ties to convicted child predator Jeffrey Epstein.
During a Tuesday segment on CNN, Jack O'Donnell — who was the former president and chief operating officer of the Trump Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey between 1987 and 1990 – said that his initial impression of the Epstein files that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has released so far is that Trump can no longer claim that he and Epstein weren't close friends. He further argued that Trump knows exactly what's in the files, and asserted the administration's approach to releasing the files as proof that the president is nervous about Americans reading their contents.
"This strategy, by the way, ofdrip, drip, drip is justridiculous on his part," O'Donnell said. "I mean,first off, it's an egregious wayto treat these victims, to do this to them. Andnow it almost seems purposeful.But he knows what's inthese files. And I think that'svery simply what's going on."
CNN host Erin Burnett noted that Trump has so far not been accused of committing any crimes with Epstein, and that the contents of the files released so far don't mention Trump in a criminal context. O'Donnell acknowledged Burnett's point, while suggesting that should the redacted material in the files eventually come to light, it could shed light on what Trump knew of his friend's activities while staying quiet.
"This is this has turnedinto a cover-up. And it is notjust a small one," O'Donnell said.
"... Thatbegs the question, what kind ofcharacter is a man that's inthe presidency of the United States that knew about thisbehavior and continued to havehim as a friend and only de-friended him when the law wasbreathing down Epstein's neck?" He added.
Watch the segment below: