President Donald Trump cannot seem to get away from questions about Jeffrey Epstein.
\nIn 2025 alone, the president and his camp\u2019s recorded response to information on the case have run the gamut from Pam Bondi promising that the files were \u201con [her] desk to review\u201d in February to the president himself questioning why \u201cfake news\u201d outlets would ask questions about the case that he deemed a \u201choax\u201d and having a very public falling out with former ally Marjorie Taylor Greene in the process.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again because they\u2019ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they\u2019ve done on the Shutdown, and so many other subjects,\u201d the president wrote in a post on Truth Social on Nov. 12. \u201cOnly a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap.\u201d<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump’s body language in previous exchanges about Epstein could reveal a bit more about how the White House is handling the increased attention to the case. One expert points out that the frequently seen “overlapping” positions of Trump and his team stand out as “odd.”
\nGetty Images\/Huffpost
\nPresident Donald Trump\u2019s body language in previous exchanges about Epstein could reveal a bit more about how the White House is handling the increased attention to the case. One expert points out that the frequently seen \u201coverlapping\u201d positions of Trump and his team stand out as \u201codd.\u201d
\nThese dismissals all eventually came to a head on Sunday when the president abruptly shifted gears and said he now supported Republicans voting for a release of the Epstein files.<\/p>\n
To better understand the ups, downs, backs and forths of the president\u2019s relationship to the Epstein investigation, HuffPost asked body language experts to take at the nonverbal communication on display when the president was asked about the case.<\/p>\n
Experts feel he\u2019s pushing back against being asked these questions.
\nChronologically, the first clip we looked at was from July 8, 2025, when Trump was asked in a cabinet meeting about a report that claimed Epstein had \u201cno client list.\u201d Trump proceeded to ask why people were still asking questions about the disgraced financier.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy has been talked about for years,\u201d Trump said. \u201c\u2026Are people still talking about this guy, this creep? That is unbelievable,\u201d turning to ask Bondi if she wanted to \u201cwaste the time\u201d to answer the question.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe gives the universal sign for stop at the very beginning with both palms out,\u201d Body Language Expert & Behavior Analyst Traci Brown told HuffPost. \u201cHe says he doesn\u2019t have time to talk about it then goes on and on talking about how bad the question is.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things that\u2019s interesting there is he starts to respond but then he looks at Pam Bondi \u2014 and it\u2019s what I call a \u2018rescue look,\u2019\u201d said Patti Wood, a body language and nonverbal communication expert, and author of \u201cSNAP: Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language, and Charisma.\u201d \u201cHe tries to defer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wood said that it differs from usual approach: \u201cHis normal strategy is to give a nonresponse and attack the reporter. Here, he is sitting at this conference table and he defers to [Bondi], and then he comes back\u201d to cast doubt on the validity of the question.<\/p>\n
She notes that when Trump begins to emphasize that he disagreed with being asked about this at the time, his hands display a tell: \u201cHis hands go up. He\u2019s looking at the reporter, he\u2019s got his hands out toward the reporter,\u201d Wood explained. \u201cHe\u2019s aggressively pushing\u2026 symbolically pushing the reporter away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump claims he doesn\u2019t understand the interest in this story, but his body language implies he could be \u2019holding back info or emotions.\u2019
\nIn the next clip we looked at, Trump was taking questions from reporters at Joint Base Andrews on July 15, 2025, and was asked why he thought his supporters were so fixated on the larger Epstein story, despite his urging that they \u201cmove on.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy they would be so interested? He\u2019s dead for a long time,\u201d Trump said. \u201cIt was never a big factor in terms of life. I don\u2019t understand what the interest or what the fascination is, I really don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
He went on to describe the whole case as \u201cpretty boring stuff. It\u2019s sordid, but it\u2019s boring,\u201d before adding that he thought \u201creally only pretty bad people, including fake news, want to keep something like that going.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe big tell is that Trump starts answering the question before the reporter is finished talking,\u201d Brown said, noting how Trump began speaking shortly after it was clear the question was about the Epstein case. \u201cThat\u2019s a change in his usual baseline. Most often he waits.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump speaks to the media after arriving at Joint Base Andrews on July 15, 2025, in Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, as Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum (left), Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt look on.
\nEvan Vucci via Associated Press
\nTrump speaks to the media after arriving at Joint Base Andrews on July 15, 2025, in Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, as Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum (left), Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt look on.
\nWood also noticed that he offered an \u201cimmediate head-shake \u2018no\u2019\u201d as the reporter asked the question. Further, she noted that his facial expression is telling.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe does a crooked sneer. The sneer goes all the way up,\u201d Wood said. \u201cPart of that body language is the nose crinkles with the mouth, his upper lip goes up, showing his front teeth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe sucks his lips in after he says he doesn\u2019t understand the fascination,\u201d Brown said, noting that this move can typically point to \u201cholding back info or emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n
The emphasis on his words was also \u201cvery revealing,\u201d Wood said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe does a vocal emphasis about Epstein and says, \u2019He\u2019s been dead for a long time.\u2019 He really strikes it. He says it loudly with vocal violence and symbolically, the read on that, it indicates he believes Epstein\u2019s death should\u2019ve made\u2026 the crisis disappear,\u201d Wood said. \u201cWithin the context of everything else he said, it was quite dramatic.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also notes the odd phrasing combined with a shrugging action when he said the case was \u201cnever a big factor in terms of life\u201d and when he simultaneously describes the case as both \u201csordid\u201d and \u201cboring.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRhetorically, that\u2019s fascinating,\u201d Wood said. \u201cHe\u2019s trying to say it\u2019s boring. He uses the word \u2018boring\u2019 twice, but he can\u2019t help mention that it\u2019s sordid, which is the opposite of boring.\u201d<\/p>\n
The shrug, Wood said, may also indicate that \u201cTrump wants to shrug off Epstein\u2019s existence.\u201d She noted that it is a strange rhetorical choice given the horrifying nature of the crimes linked with Epstein and the high-profile nature of the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn context, it\u2019s sort of odd to shrug off this seeming-suicide and the life of this person,\u201d Wood said. \u201cA shrug is an awkward, weird way to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Experts interpret one response as a \u2018death glare\u2019 when asked a question about the case.
\nThe next clip, from an event signing an executive order bringing back the presidential fitness test at the end of July 2025, featured Trump (and it is impossible to ignore that he was flanked by wrestler Triple H) discussing reports that Epstein \u201cstole\u201d young women who worked at Mar-a-Lago spa, including the late Virginia Giuffre, one of the most well-known accusers.<\/p>\n
A reporter from ABC asked the president to respond to a statement from Giuffre\u2019s family on his recent comments, asking if he knew at the time \u201cwhy he was taking those young women.\u201d<\/p>\n
His response fell into \u201chis old pattern of insults to avoid the question,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, I didn\u2019t know why. I figured it was ABC fake news that would ask that question \u2014 one of the worst \u2014 but, no. I don\u2019t know really why,\u201d Trump replied, first attacking the outlet the question came from. \u201cBut I said if he\u2019s taken anybody from Mar-a-Lago, he\u2019s hiring or whatever he\u2019s doing, I didn\u2019t like it and we threw him out. We said, \u2018We don\u2019t want him at the place.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump speaks as professional golfer Bryson DeChambeau, from left, Cody Campbell, WWE CCO Triple H, Kansas City Chiefs NFL football player Harrison Butker, and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. listen during an event for the signing of an executive order restarting the Presidential Fitness Test in public schools on July 31, 2025, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington.
\nJacquelyn Martin via Associated Press
\nTrump speaks as professional golfer Bryson DeChambeau, from left, Cody Campbell, WWE CCO Triple H, Kansas City Chiefs NFL football player Harrison Butker, and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. listen during an event for the signing of an executive order restarting the Presidential Fitness Test in public schools on July 31, 2025, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington.
\n\u201cHe does a death glare,\u201d Wood said. \u201cHe gives a death glare to the reporter and his mouth is in a small, crooked frown. It\u2019s scary to think what that reporter felt. He\u2019s done that a lot lately. It\u2019s a scary glare.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wood also noted that Trump\u2019s body language suggested discomfort with the question in a few key ways: with his eyes (blinking, shutting his eyes) and in how his whole body moved during the exchange (away from the reporter and the question).<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the question proceeds, he blinks, he shutters his eyes, which means you\u2019re blocking the question, you don\u2019t want the question,\u201d Wood said. \u201cAs he\u2019s finished being asked, he does several things right away: His head pulls back quickly and then his whole body kind of jumps back. He does what\u2019s called a \u2018body adjustment,\u2019 meaning he moves around in stress.\u201d<\/p>\n
She says this kind of movement could be a subtle sign of the \u201cflight response\u201d in action.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou might see that in a lost child or a tired unhappy child\u2026 the slacked-jaw and the downward, unfocused gaze. It\u2019s just not normal for adults in this situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013 Patti Wood, body language and nonverbal communication expert
\n\u201cIt\u2019s the pull-back, the jump-back, the moving around, his body wants to leave and get out of the situation,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019s not running away from the situation, but the head back, the body back adjustment are all indication that he wants to get out of that situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also noted that as he continues his answer, he appears to give a \u201csad\u201d expression, with \u201can unfocused gaze, slacked-jaw and open mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is something he\u2019s been doing more often, but it\u2019s very odd,\u201d she said. \u201cThat combination: the slack jaw on the open mouth. It\u2019s not common in competent adults. You might see that in a lost child or a tired unhappy child\u2026 the slacked-jaw and the downward, unfocused gaze. It\u2019s just not normal for adults in this situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially when it\u2019s a serious question, he\u2019s in a serious situation being asked a serious question \u2014 and he\u2019s sad and unfocused at the end of it like it has a lack of energy around it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He isn\u2019t standing alone, which is also telling, according to experts.
\nThe final clip we looked at with our experts was from the Nov. 12, 2025, televised signing of the bill ending the government shutdown. The clip featured a notably abrupt ending to questions when Epstein\u2019s name is mentioned where aids are physically between the president and the crowd of reporters as they end the exchange.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s just using the chaos around to avoid the question,\u201d Brown said. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t even acknowledge it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wood describes this moment as seeming \u201cvery immediate and hurried,\u201d and said the immediacy in which the team blocked the view and moved to end the interaction \u201ctells you how upset everybody on his team is and how much they are protecting him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems really obvious, but I think it needs to be said out loud: They immediately stepped in front of him and pushed those reporters out,\u201d Wood noted, describing the moment in the clip where a woman in a tan suit steps in front of the camera.<\/p>\n
Another observation that Wood makes is that there\u2019s consistently been an \u201codd\u201d feature to how Trump is positioned in relation to his team and cabinet members: Their body language actually overlaps.<\/p>\n
Trump signs the funding bill to reopen the government in the Oval Office of the White House on Nov. 12, 2025, in Washington.
\nJacquelyn Martin via Associated Press
\nTrump signs the funding bill to reopen the government in the Oval Office of the White House on Nov. 12, 2025, in Washington.
\nHistorically, presidents are usually given a decent amount of space in public settings, Wood explained. In American culture, we usually offer 14-18 inches of space to one another \u2014 and that space is typically given even more-so to people in power.<\/p>\n
While there are photo op formations that undoubtedly will ask folks to scooch together a little bit more to fit in the frame, this positioning for commentary or formal addresses is really uncommon, Wood said. In fact, it\u2019s a positioning that is a lot more familiar for couples: \u201cIt means they want to be seen as a unit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if anybody\u2019s talked about how odd that is, that he has to be flanked by other people in all these situations,\u201d Wood said. \u201cUsually there\u2019s a sort of space between the president and other people sitting or standing at the conference table at a podium.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I\u2019m seeing is, not only is he flanked, he\u2019s never alone. They\u2019re in that close zone of space. If you look at those pictures, they\u2019re overlapping body language with him shoulder to shoulder,\u201d Wood continued. \u201cThat is so highly unusual, it could indicate they might need to not just protect him, but hold him up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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