The Jeffrey Epstein case continues to cause backlash within President Donald Trump’s MAGA base. Conservatives are angered with the U.S. Department of Justice for closing its investigation last week, fueling conspiracy theories that more details exist but are being hidden from the public.
They’re demanding President Trump fire Attorney General Pam Bondi.
During his campaign, Donald Trump and his backers promoted conspiracy theories about the late financier and convicted sex trafficker. They claimed that the Biden administration covered up the extent of Epstein’s client network. Now, some of the MAGA base are accusing the Trump administration of doing the same thing.
Epstein officially died by suicide in his jail cell back in 2019 while awaiting trial. As a candidate, Trump and his backers promoted various conspiracies about him, claiming that his death may not have been a suicide and that there was a list of clients, including well-known politicians and other famous people, who visited Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean and had encounters with underage girls.
Back in February, Trump’s own Attorney General Pam Bondi gave an interview to Fox in which she suggested that she would make public a client list.
“It’s sitting on my desk right now to review,” Bondi said at the time.
However last week, a new Justice Department memo stated Epstein never had a client list, that Epstein killed himself in jail, and that there would be no additional records released from the investigation. That angered some of Trump’s most ardent supporters, who feel like they’ve been misled.
Fox News host Laura Ingraham spoke to a group of young conservatives in Tampa about the matter over the weekend:
“How many of you are … satisfied with the results of the Epstein investigation? Clap,” Ingraham asked. The crowd booed and no one applauded. “If crimes were committed against children, and we know who was committing crimes against children, those people have to rot in jail.”
On Saturday, President Trump issued a statement on Truth Social defending Bondi, blaming former President Obama and Biden, and insisting that Epstein is a person nobody cares about.
“What’s going on with my “boys” and in some cases, “gals?” They’re all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTIC JOB!,” the president wrote. “We’re on one team, MAGA, and I don’t like what’s happening. We have a PERFECT Administration, THE TALK OF THE WORLD, and “selfish people” are trying to hurt it, all over a guy who never dies. Jeffrey Epstein. For years, it’s Epstein over and over again.”
Democrats are also taking advantage of the Epstein controversy to blast the president.
“He promised to release the Epstein files,” Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Georgia) told supporters at a rally. “Did anyone really think the sexual predator president who used to party with Jeffrey Epstein was going to release the Epstein files?”
