Fox News Says It ‘Mistakenly’ Cropped Donald Trump out of Photo Showing Melania Trump With Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell

Fox News recently made headlines when they reported on Ghislaine Maxwell, who was recently arrested and charged in connection with Jeffrey Epstein‘s alleged sexual crimes. The issue with the agency’s report was that it posted a throwback photo of Maxwell, Epstein, and First Lady Melania Trump together, effectively cropping out President Donald Trump from the image. Now, Fox News has released a statement in which it claims that Trump was “mistakenly” cropped out of the photo.

The photo in question aired during a segment about Maxwell being charged by federal prosecutors for her alleged involvement with Epstein. The network drew widespread criticism after the segment aired because of the fact that Trump did not appear in the photo. In response to this controversy, a spokesperson for Fox News said, “On Sunday, July 5, a report on Ghislaine Maxwell during Fox News Channel’s America’s News HQ mistakenly eliminated President Donald Trump from a photo alongside then Melania Knauss, Jeffrey Epstein and Maxwell.” They added, “We regret the error.”

Maxwell, a British socialite who was allegedly Epstein’s confidante for decades, was arrested by the FBI on Thursday for her alleged involvement in Epstein’s sexual crimes. She has been accused of helping Epstein, her one-time boyfriend, procure and groom teenage girls for a sex trafficking ring. One of Epstein’s accusers, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, accused Maxwell of doing exactly that to her in a 2015 defamation lawsuit. In the suit, Giuffre alleged that “madame” Maxwell obtained and groomed her to be a “sex slave” for Epstein. She also claimed that she was made to engage in sexual relations with Prince Andrew of the British Royal Family when she was 17. Buckingham Palace has since denied Andrew’s relationship with Giuffre. But, in legal documents, Giuffre accused the prince of being “an abuser, he was a participant.”

Maxwell has also denied any accusations that she was involved in Epstein’s alleged sexual crimes. Back in November, her spokesperson told The Sun, “The allegations made against Ghislaine Maxwell are untrue.” They continued to say that she “strongly denies allegations of an unsavoury nature, which have appeared in the British press and elsewhere, and reserves her right to seek redress at the repetition of such old defamatory claims.”