Speaking at a conference in Florida, McCain claimed that a girl from her daughter’s high school was one of Epstein’s victims, and said that she hoped the accused sex trafficker –who allegedly killed himself while in detention at a Manhattan prison– was “in hell.”

Her uncontroversial condemnation of the shadowy multi-millionaire was followed by a rather more curious statement.

“Epstein was hiding in plain sight,” said Cindy McCain. “We all knew about him. We all knew what he was doing, but we had no one that was – no legal aspect that would go after him. They were afraid of him. For whatever reason, they were afraid of him.”

She didn’t elaborate, leaving many on social media to speculate on what she meant.

If McCain knew about Epstein she should have come forward, noted numerous Twitter users. Inaction and silence led to “trafficked, sexually assaulted kids & adults” paying the price, one unimpressed commenter argued.

McCain only spoke out against Epstein “after he [was] dead,” read a similarly scornful reply to her comments.