‘Meeted Epstein 3-4 times’: Harpdeep Puri sets record after Rahul Gandhi takes charge in Lok Sabha | India News

New Delhi: Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri Slammed Lok Sabha leaders Rahul Gandhi Congress has repeatedly attacked the notorious Epstein dossier, saying he only met with Jeffrey Epstein “three or four times” in a professional capacity as part of the Independent Commission on Multilateralism.Puri said the meetings were held before he joined the federal cabinet in 2017 and had entered the public domain.Puri told a news conference: “I would like to remind everyone that my name was mentioned today during the parliamentary session in the context of some developments elsewhere (the Epstein dossier). I just wanted to share some information… I want to clarify that these facts are public.” He further added: “Three million emails have been released, covering the period from May 2009 when I was India’s ambassador to the United Nations in New York to 2017 when I was a minister. During this period, there were only three or four mentions of meetings, and my interactions were entirely professional, related to the Independent Commission on Multilateralism and other international work. “In a vicious dig at ‘Yuva Neta’ (young leader) Rahul Gandhi, Puri said: “Yuva Neta people should know that the Epstein dossier involves wrongdoing and criminal offences. The Epstein dossier involves allegations that he owned an island where he took people to indulge in sexual fantasies, there were accusations of pedophilia, and there were victims. Those victims filed cases against those in power. My interaction has nothing to do with that.”“Amid criticism of the India-US trade deal by the opposition, Hardeep Puri said the deal was the best deal and was just a teaser considering the volatile situation around the world. Puri further defended India’s economic growth and slammed Rahul Gandhi for echoing Trump’s “death economy” narrative, saying: “On one hand, you have leaders who devote their lives to transforming the country, working day and night, and then you have the comic element. I choose my words carefully, the comic element. I did not call him (Rahul Gandhi) a clown; I said the comic element.”