President Donald Trump addressed his historical ties to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein during a campaign stop in Chillicothe, Ohio, while rallying support for Republican candidates ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Trump’s remarks about Epstein followed an interruption by a rally attendee who shouted about the president’s alleged connections to the convicted sex offender. Responding to the heckler, Trump stated that he expelled Epstein from Mar-a-Lago approximately two decades ago. “I threw Epstein out of a club like 20 years ago because I thought he was a wackjob,” Trump told the crowd. “That was a great thing I did; I must tell you.” Trump maintained that he was never formally accused of any wrongdoing related to Epstein’s crimes and asserted that he was “totally exonerated from him,” while also labeling rally protesters as “sick, weak people.”
The comments marked a rare public mention of Epstein by Trump, who previously remained tight-lipped as his administration faced scrutiny regarding federal sex trafficking files. Public attention intensified following a publication detail from July 2025 regarding a 2003 birthday letter Trump reportedly wrote to Epstein.
Before the exchange regarding Epstein, Trump’s Ohio appearance featured another recurring theme of his cross-country tour: publicly commenting on the physical appearance of Republican Senator Jon Husted, a former college football star. Trump spent time praising Husted’s athletic build, echoing similar remarks made earlier in the month at rallies in Youngstown, Ohio, and Lubbock, Texas, where the president described examining Husted’s physique and hands.
Husted, who joked that he hit the weight room in anticipation of the visit so as not to let the president down, is locked in a tight race with former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown. Recent polling from NetChoice/Echelon Insights showed the candidates tied at 47 percent, while Suffolk University and InsiderAdvantage polls showed Brown leading Husted by three points, 47 to 44 percent.
