Pranksters filled Trump Tower’s gift shop with merchandise featuring pictures of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein with the president.
The Good Liars, a political comedy duo of Jason Selvig and Davram Stiefler, posted photos of postcards with an old photograph of Donald Trump and Epstein they say were among the souvenirs at the president’s Manhattan skyscraper.
The duo confirmed to The Independent they were responsible for the prank. The Independent reached out to the Trump Tower store and a representative declined to confirm the incident or comment further.
A similar prank was recently carried out in London when activists put the same old photo of Trump and Epstein on a bus shelter near the U.S. embassy ahead of the president’s state visit to the United Kingdom in September, according to an Instagram post from the group Everyone Hates Elon.
The mischievous acts come as the Trump administration is embroiled in controversy surrounding files in the criminal investigation of Epstein, who died in jail while awaiting trial on federal charges related to the sexual abuse of dozens of minor girls.
Trump had socialized with Epstein, a wealthy financier, decades ago when he was a New York real estate mogul. In a 2002 interview with New York magazine, Trump said he had known Epstein for 15 years at that point and called him a “terrific guy.”
Trump has said their friendship ended before Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to Florida state charges of soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Conspiracies have long swirled, particularly from right-wing figures, about the so-called Epstein files, including rumors of a suspected client list of powerful people who may have partaken in the late financier’s crimes.
When the Justice Department and FBI released a memo earlier this month saying there was never any client list and that “no further disclosure” of the files “would be appropriate or warranted,” the Trump administration faced backlash, notably including from the president’s base.
Things came to a head Thursday night with two major developments in the Epstein files saga.
First, the WSJ released a bombshell report claiming Trump had given Epstein a bawdy birthday card, including a drawing of a naked woman and the message, “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret,” in 2003.
Trump and the White House have vehemently denied the reporting, calling the birthday card “fake.”
The president took it a step further, announcing in a Truth Social post Thursday night he would sue the WSJ, its parent company NewsCorp and media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who is chairman emeritus of NewsCorp.
Trump followed that up with another Truth Social post announcing his request for Attorney General Pam Bondi to release all “pertinent Grand Jury testimony” related to the Epstein case, “subject to Court approval.”
