Trump encounters rare uproar from ardent rightwing allies over Jeffrey Epstein
'This stinks. This just reeks,' was the verdict of Jesse Watters, the primetime Fox News host.
He added: 'The feds spent decades investigating Epstein and have had total access to his property for years, they still cannot give us a straight answer? This is not anything new; the government has been keeping us in the dark for generations.'
Watters was careful not to criticize the Trump administration directly, blaming 'the feds' as he described Pam Bondi, the attorney general, and Kash Patel, the director of the FBI, as 'great Americans'.
There was also tumult within the Trump administration. Dan Bongino, the deputy FBI director and former rightwing podcast host, spent years pushing Epstein conspiracy theories, and was reportedly very upset with Bondi over how the Epstein files were handled.
'Bongino is out-of-control furious,' a source close to Bongino told NBC News. 'This destroyed his career. He's threatening to quit and torch Pam unless she's fired.' Axios reported that Bongino didn't show up to work on Friday, and the row prompted Trump himself to step in.
Asked by reporters on Sunday if Bongino would remain in his position, Trump said: 'Oh I think so ... I spoke to him today. Dan Bongino, very good guy. I've known him a long time. I've done his show many, many times. He sounded terrific, actually.'
But within the rightwing, Epstein-curious sphere, others had continued to wade in.
'Pam Blondi [sic] is covering up child sex crimes that took place under HER WATCH when she was Attorney General of Florida,' wrote Laura Loomer, the 32-year-old conspiracy theorist whose influence over Trump has come under scrutiny.
Loomer accused Bondi of failing to pursue legal action against Epstein, despite lawsuits being filed against him in the Florida.
'She is afraid of that being discussed and brought to light. She needs to be fired. She has tainted the investigation,' Loomer concluded.
Epstein died by suicide while in federal custody in August 2019, but his death was pounced on by rightwing conspiracy theorists, who believe he may have been killed before he could implicate famous associates. One of the most pervasive theories has been that Epstein kept a 'client list' of people who participated in illicit activities – typically the right has claimed that the list includes the names of prominent left-leaning politicians and celebrities.
Bondi appeared to confirm the existence of such a list during an interview with Fox News in February. Bondi was asked: 'The DOJ [Department of Justice] may be releasing the list of Jeffrey Epstein's clients, will that really happen?'
She responded: 'It's sitting on my desk right now to review.'
That added fuel to conspiracy theorists' fire, but the blaze was doused last Monday, when the justice department said that Epstein did not keep a client list, and said no more files related to his sex-trafficking investigation would be made public.
The White House claimed Bondi had been talking about the 'entirety of all of the paperwork and relation to Jeffrey Epstein's crimes', which satisfied few rightwing commentators, many of whom have built careers on propagating conspiracy theories.
'We were all told more was coming. That answers were out there and would be provided. Incredible how utterly mismanaged this Epstein mess has been. And it didn't have to be,' said Jack Posobiec, who promoted the baseless theory that high-level Democrats were running a child sex ring out of a Washington pizzeria. Posobiec was among a group of rightwing influencers who were given binders labeled 'The Epstein Files: Phase 1' during a visit to the White House in February – although many were disappointed that those documents contained little new information.
The ire was also inspired by the justice department releasing an 11-hour video purportedly showing the exterior of Epstein's door, apparently in an effort to show no one entered his cell at the time he died. But a minute of the video was missing, which satisfied few on the right.
'There are some extremely bizarre things about the video of Epstein's cell that Pam Bondi's DOJ released as proof no one killed him. First, a full minute appears to be missing from the video and secondly, it does NOT appear to be the same cell as the photo released on Jan 5, 2020,' wrote Robby Starbuck, a rightwing influencer and Trump supporter. 'Anyone else find this extremely troubling?'
Others were more direct.
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'NO ONE IS BUYING THIS!! Next the DOJ will say 'Actually, Jeffrey Epstein never even existed.' This is over the top sickening,' Alex Jones, the rightwing commentator and conspiracy theorist, wrote on social media.
The lackluster release also left others, outside of the far right, dissatisfied. Andrew Schulz, the host of the Flagrant podcast, who interviewed Trump in October and said he voted for him, included the Epstein saga as part of his reason for feeling let down by the president.
'When you feel like the status quo will do nothing and change nothing, you have way more of a longer leash for the outsiders' ideas than you do the status quo's ideas,' Schulz said, talking about Trump's appeal.
'And I think that was the idea with Trump, it was like: 'Maybe he will stop these wars.' No. 'Maybe we will see what's up with this Epstein shit.' No.'
Trump, who once enjoyed a friendship with Epstein, said in the run-up to last year's election that he would declassify files related to Epstein, although he added: 'You don't want to affect people's lives if there's phoney stuff in there, because there's a lot of phoney stuff in that whole world.'
At a cabinet meeting this week, however, Trump expressed surprise that people were 'still talking' about Epstein, suggesting that the president was, for once, out of touch with his Maga base. 'This guy's been talked about for years,' Trump said, describing Epstein as a 'creep'.
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That failed to quell the anger, however, prompting Trump to write a lengthy Truth Social post over the weekend, pleading for calm from his supporters.
'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! 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.'
He added: 'One year ago our Country was DEAD, now it's the 'HOTTEST' Country anywhere in the World. Let's keep it that way, and not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about.'
The replies to Trump's post, however, suggested his appeal had not worked.
'My wanting pedophiles to be punished for their crimes doesn't make me less of a patriot, but more,' one user wrote. 'I don't understand the reason for your current attitude and frankly I'm beyond the point of caring. I do care about justice, wether [sic] you approve or not.'
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