Keep Digging, Donald. You’re Keeping the Epstein Scandal Alive.

Donald Trump is an adjudicated rapist, accused of sexual abuse or assault by dozens of women. Also, he seems to be in severe cognitive decline. That combination of factors almost guarantees that the story of his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, indicted for child sex trafficking before he died in jail, will continue to unfurl.

Trump gave a long, sometimes incoherent press conference alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday. They were ostensibly meeting to discuss tariffs, but questions veered toward Epstein. Instead of slapping them down or ignoring them, as he sometimes does, Trump answered them. At length. And very strangely.

Trump has maintained that he had a falling out with Epstein years ago. In 2004, they competed for the same gaudy Palm Beach property, and Trump outbid his friend and got it. (In some accounts, Epstein was the one who broke off the friendship over it.)

Sounds plausible, for two scummy rich guys.

Some of Trump’s communications people say Trump kicked Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago “for being a creep,” in the words of henchman Stephen Cheung.

But at Monday’s press conference, Trump gave a different explanation. And a hauntingly creepy one.

“For years I wouldn’t talk to Jeffrey Epstein, because he did something that was inappropriate…. He stole people that worked for me.… And he did it again. So I threw him out of the place [Mar-a-Lago]. I’m glad I did.”

My first reaction was that “inappropriate” seems like weak beer to describe Epstein’s 2008 imprisonment for “soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution.” But no, Trump wasn’t talking about that. He clarified: “[Epstein] stole people that worked for me.” Then I recalled that convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell in fact hired 16-year-old Virginia Giuffre, the daughter of a Mar-a-Lago maintenance manager, away from a job as a spa attendant there. Is that what Trump is thinking about? And did the pair “steal” another Mar-a-Lago worker from Trump?

Remember that Maxwell called the women who worked for her “slaves.” Trump also seemed to have a proprietary interest in the workers of Mar-a-Lago; they weren’t free to pursue other employment—they were “stolen” property, akin to “slaves” if you will. But Trump’s unforced error is going to spur more digging by reporters. (I’m not an expert on the hundreds of girls trafficked by Epstein and Maxwell over the years, but it’s not impossible that another may have also been discovered working at Mar-a-Lago.) Trump also, bizarrely, said he had never “had the privilege” of visiting Epstein’s private Caribbean island, where much of the sex trafficking is alleged to have taken place. What a privilege!

Decades after first trying to blow the whistle on Epstein and Maxwell (and Prince Andrew, who she alleged forced her to have sex multiple times), Virginia Giuffre reportedly committed suicide in April of this year (though her parents have questioned her cause of death). Her death is an important reminder that none of the women who raised allegations against the trafficking pair have gotten justice.

Trump kept another aspect of the story alive Monday, when he again denied contributing a “controversial drawing” of a woman, with allusions to his and Epstein’s many commonalities and “secrets,” to a book for Epstein’s 50th birthday. But he did allow that such a book might exist. “They say there were many letters done by many people,” he told reporters. “Many big, successful people.” He can’t resist associating himself with the “big successful people” who contributed to Epstein’s book, should such a book exist—it does, and I predict we’ll see it. What is wrong with him?

And in the wake of Deputy Attorney General (and former Trump personal defense lawyer) Todd Blanche spending almost two days chatting with Maxwell, currently serving 20 years in prison for her crimes), Trump blithely insisted, “Well, I’m allowed to give her a pardon but nobody’s approached me with it. Nobody’s asked me about it. Right now it would be inappropriate to talk about it.” Right now, anyway.

Dangerously, this is one place where Trump’s lapdogs seem a little anxious about the way this story will go. On Sunday, House GOP Speaker Mike Johnson, one of Trump’s most reliable toadies, unloaded about the morality and the politics of pardoning Maxwell. It’s worth reading in full:

If you’re asking my opinion, I think 20 years was a pittance. I think she should have a life sentence at least. Think of all these unspeakable crimes. And as you noted earlier, probably a thousand victims. It’s hard to put into words how evil this was and that she orchestrated it and was a big part of it. At least under the criminal sanction, I think is an unforgivable thing. So again, not my decision, but I have great pause about that as any reasonable person would.

Yes, I see that Johnson is holding up the woman in the scandal as the “orchestrator,” when evidence to that effect is suspect. She’s more to blame than Epstein? But the rest of his statement is spot on.

It’s all evidence of the depraved mindset of elites, whether it’s about treating workers, or minor girls, as property. (From which the devout Christian Johnson almost always looks away.) It also feels like Trump’s continuing cognitive decline is making it hard for him, personally, to answer or dodge questions effectively. He doesn’t want to talk about Epstein, but also can’t stop talking about Epstein. This story is staying with us.