President Donald Trump said Monday that he severed ties with Jeffrey Epstein because the financier repeatedly “stole” employees from his businesses, an explanation he offered to reporters during a stop at his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland. Trump’s account differs from earlier reports that the relationship ended after Epstein allegedly made advances toward a teenage girl at Mar-a-Lago or after the two men competed for a Palm Beach mansion in 2004. The new rationale surfaces as the Justice Department faces criticism for withholding additional records from its Epstein investigation, a controversy that has renewed scrutiny of Trump’s past association with the convicted sex offender. The president also reiterated that he never visited Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean, saying he declined an invitation and repeating an unsubstantiated claim that former President Bill Clinton traveled there “dozens” of times. Trump and Epstein were photographed together on several occasions in the 1990s and early 2000s, and flight logs show Trump flew on Epstein’s aircraft seven times during that period.