Tucker Carlson's jaw-dropping theory on why Trump is burying the Epstein list
Tucker - who has long claimed Jeffrey Epstein was tied to the Israeli Mossad espionage service - is leading a MAGA backlash against the Trump administration's promises to release Epstein's anticipated 'client list.'
In a major U-turn, Attorney General Pam Bondi released a memo this week re-affirming the Justice Department's ruling that Epstein's 2019 death was a suicide, and that he had no 'client list.'
Tucker said it was 'obvious' that Bondi was 'covering up crimes'.
Amid mounting scrutiny over Trump's handling of the controversy, Carlson said he is not convinced that the president was covering his own alleged ties to Epstein, and felt the reason is hinged on espionage.
'I don't think he's that guy, actually,' Carlson said of Trump. 'I don't think he likes creepy sex stuff.'
Rather, Carlson floated a more sinister plot to protect the US and Israeli intelligence agencies was driving Trump's response.
'The only other explanation that I can think of... is that intel services are at the very center of this story, U.S. and Israeli, and they're being protected,' he said.
'I think that seems like the most obvious.'
Carlson waded into the controversy hours after Elon Musk launched into another attack on MAGA world by claiming that former Trump advisor Steve Bannon is implicated in the Epstein files.
Musk also alleged weeks ago that Trump is in the Epstein files, saying that 'is the real reason they have not been made public.'
But on Carlson's show, his guest Sagaar Enjeti, the host of Breaking Points, agreed that intelligence services likely had a role in the growing scandal over the release of the files.
Enjeti pointed to reports in 2021 that alleged that federal prosecutors had chosen not to prosecute pedophilia cases within the CIA.
'There have been multiple documented cases of pedophilia inside of the CIA perpetrated by CIA officers,' he said.
'This was a BuzzFeed News piece years back where the CIA specifically did not want to prosecute those individuals in federal court for fear that they would reveal sources and methods if they were pulled into open court and they basically just made it go away.
'The only time they actually prosecuted somebody for child pornography was whenever he'd already been prosecuted for mishandling classified information.'
Carlson joked in response: 'Well, when they want to crush you, they put kiddie porn on your computer. It's why I don't have a computer!'
The issue of Trump's handling of the Epstein files led the president to snap at a reporter on Tuesday when they asked Bondi about the Justice Department's internal review of the documents.
Trump brushed off fury from his MAGA base over the abrupt conclusion of the Epstein probe this week, and accused the reporter who quizzed Bondi of 'desecrating' the deadly Texas flood tragedy.
'Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?' Trump lamented to reporters present for his six-month Cabinet meeting. 'This guy's been talked about for years.'
He said that the media needs to move on from 'this creep' Epstein and focus more on the tragedy in Texas and ongoing wars in the Middle East and between Russia and Ukraine.
In the past, Trump has riled up his base with theories over Epstein's death, and in his 2024 campaign he vowed to release all the government's secrets, along with documents from the much-scrutinized assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.
Trump, however, is now ready to move on from the Epstein files.
'Do you want to waste the time – do you feel like answering?' Trump asked his Attorney General, who was just one seat away from the president with Secretary of State Marco Rubio between them during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
Bondi said she didn't mind answering the question, but Trump continued his tirade against the Post reporter.
'I mean, I can't believe you're asking a question on Epstein at a time like this where we're having some of the greatest success and also tragedy with what happened in Texas.
'It just seems like a desecration, but you go ahead,' he said to his embattled attorney general.
Bondi then sought to clarify her past remarks about having Epstein's 'client list' on her desk, saying she never admitted there was a 'client list' and that she was actually referencing the complete paperwork related to the investigation into Epstein's child sex trafficking crimes.
She then said that the reason more evidence was not released is because it contained child pornography.
'They turned out to be child porn downloaded by that disgusting Jeffrey Epstein,' Bondi said. 'Never going to be released, never going to see the light of day.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
27 minutes ago
- The Guardian
US issues sanctions against Francesca Albanese, UN official investigating abuses in Gaza
The Trump administration announced on Wednesday it was issuing sanctions against an independent official tasked with investigating human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories, the latest effort by the United States to punish critics of Israel's 21-month war in Gaza. The state department's decision to sanction Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, comes after a recent US pressure campaign to force the international body to remove her from her post failed. Albanese, a human rights lawyer, has been vocal in calling for an end to what she describes as the 'genocide' that Israel is waging against Palestinians in Gaza. Both Israel and the US, which provides military support, have strongly denied that accusation. Israel has faced accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice and of war crimes at the ICC over its devastating military assault on Gaza. Albanese's position has also been backed by leading genocide scholars and rights organisations. In a post on X late on Wednesday, Albanese wrote that she stood 'firmly and convincingly on the side of justice, as I have always done,' without directly mentioning the US sanctions. In a text message to Al Jazeera, she was quoted as dismissing the US move as 'mafia style intimidation techniques.' In recent weeks, Albanese has issued a series of letters, urging other countries to pressure Israel, including through sanctions, to end its deadly bombardment of the Gaza Strip. The Italian national has also been a strong supporter of the international criminal court's indictment of Israeli officials, including the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for war crimes. She most recently issued a report naming several US giants among companies aiding what she described as Israel's occupation and war on Gaza. 'Albanese's campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel will no longer be tolerated,' the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, posted on social media. 'We will always stand by our partners in their right to self-defense.' Albanese has been the target of criticism from pro-Israel officials and groups in the US and in the Middle East. Last week, the US mission to the UN issued a scathing statement, calling for her removal for 'a years-long pattern of virulent antisemitism and unrelenting anti-Israel bias'. The statement said that Albanese's allegations of Israel committing genocide or apartheid are 'false and offensive'. It is the culmination of an extraordinary and sprawling campaign of nearly six months by the Trump administration to quell criticism of Israel's handling of the deadly war in Gaza, which is closing in on two years. Earlier this year, the Trump administration began arresting and deporting faculty and students of American universities who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations and other political activities. Rights experts slammed the US sanctions against Albanese. Dylan Williams, vice-president for government affairs at the Center for International Policy thinktank, labeled them as 'rogue state behavior' while Amnesty International said special rapporteurs must be supported and not sanctioned. 'Governments around the world and all actors who believe in the rule-based order and international law must do everything in their power to mitigate and block the effect of the sanctions against Francesca Albanese and more generally to protect the work and independence of Special Rapporteurs,' Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International's secretary general and a former UN special rapporteur herself, said. The war between Israel and Hamas began on 7 October 2023, when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel and killed nearly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 people captive. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, which says women and children make up most of the dead but does not specify how many were fighters or civilians. The number is widely believed to be a huge underestimate. Nearly 21 months into the conflict that displaced the vast majority of Gaza's 2.3 million people, it is nearly impossible for the critically wounded to get the care they need, doctors and aid workers say. 'We must stop this genocide, whose short-term goal is completing the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, while also profiteering from the killing machine devised to perform it,' Albanese said in a recent post on X. 'No one is safe until everyone is safe.' With Associated Press and Reuters
Daily Mail
41 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Elon Musk unfollows MAGA allies as he fumes over Jeffrey Epstein client list 'cover-up'
Elon Musk has carried out a mass purge of Trump administration allies from his social media, after weeks of mounting tensions over the Big Beautiful Bill bubbled over into a full-scale attack on the integrity of officials working on the Jeffrey Epstein case. The world's richest man has expressed fury over Attorney General Pam Bondi's claims that a full and thorough investigation had not produced an Epstein 'client list' which she had previously said existed. 'This is the final straw,' Musk said, sharing a meme. One day later, he unfollowed Bondi on his X account. He then unfollowed Fox News, which had earlier platformed Bondi as she insisted she had thoroughly investigated the matter. Trump had vowed to uncover the true extent of the 'cover up' surrounding Epstein's crime and his death. Now, the FBI and Bondi insist he did in fact commit suicide, and that the purported client list they'd long discussed does not exist. Musk has also now purged his X account of other Trump allies, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, Congresswoman Nancy Mace, Energy Secretary Chris White, MAGA activist Scott Presler and the White House 's Rapid Response account. He railed against the Trump administration for not taking any action to arrest those related to Epstein's child sex trafficking crimes, twice suggesting it was because they were looking to cover for people on the list. Back in early June when he and Trump first fell out over the Big Beautiful Bill, Musk sensationally claimed on X that the president was 'in the Epstein files' and thus trying to delay their publication. 'Time to drop the really big bomb: [Trump] is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!',' he wrote, before ultimately deleting the post and apologizing. Now he claims that former Trump advisor Steve Bannon is implicated in the files. Trump addressed the Epstein files on Tuesday during a Cabinet meeting, appearing to mock a reporter who questioned Bondi's findings. 'Are you still talking about Epstein? This guy has been talked about for years. Are people still talking about this creep? I can't believe you're asking a question about Epstein,' the president said. Trump's base, including high-profile allies like Tucker Carlson and Glenn Beck, are demanding answers and accusing Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel of 'lying' to the American public. Right-wing journalist Laura Loomer posted: 'Who releases a statement about the Epstein files on the Sunday night of 4th of July weekend? Someone who doesn't want you paying attention.' Earlier this year the Trump administration hosted conservative influencers to the White House to give them updates on the Epstein files. The group was trotted out of the residence holding binders that claimed to contain additional information on Epstein and his crimes. However, the contents of those binders were later discovered to be full of previously disclosed information and lacked any new bombshells as promised. Bondi said in February Epstein's client list was 'sitting on her desk,' but has since walked back that statement. Musk's status within Trump's political sphere has been teetering on the brink for months after the duo fell out over Trump's controversial Big Beautiful Bill, which ultimately passed through Congress last week. He described the bill as an 'abomination' which would 'destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country.' Trump's BBB is $3.3 trillion legislation package encapsulating much of what he campaigned on, extending the 2017 tax cuts and eliminating tax on tips and overtime. At the time, many Republicans refrained from publicly criticizing Musk even as he and Trump's tit-for-tat worsened. Speaker Johnson said at the time: 'I count Elon Musk as a good friend, and Congressional Republicans appreciate everything he has done to put a spotlight on waste, fraud, and abuse in government. 'With all due respect, Elon is simply wrong about the One Big Beautiful Bill.' But the relationship has soured even further with Musk's latest round of attacks and in light of his vow to launch an America Party to run against the Republicans and Democrats. The party will challenge Republicans in the 2026 midterm election, targeting specifically those who voted in favor of the BBB - which was all but five Republicans. 'I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely 'off the rails,' essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks. He even wants to start a Third Political Party, despite the fact that they have never succeeded in the United States,' Trump said. Even Trump's most loyal right-hand woman, referred to as the 'Ice Maiden' in Washington, has now weighed in on the demise of the bromance her boss and Musk briefly enjoyed. Chief of Staff Susie Wiles said Musk appeared to have a 'fatherly fixation' on Trump and the pair shared somewhat of a father-son connection. 'It was a great thing when it was a great thing, and had a very, I think, a very troublesome ending,' she said. 'The president was very, very kind to him, and Elon had so much to offer us... I know that what has been said doesn't ring accurate to me, but I don't know, I enjoyed working with Elon.'
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
The Secret Service suspended six staffers without pay or benefits after Trump assassination attempt
The Secret Service suspended six staffers without pay or benefits after President Donald Trump 's first assassination attempt nearly a year ago. On July 13, 2024, Trump, who was the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination at the time, was at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, when a 20-year-old gunman fired at him. A bullet grazed Trump's ear, prompting Secret Service agents to shield him with their own bodies. As Trump was being swept away to safety, he raised his fist in the air and mouthed, 'Fight, fight, fight.' The gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, killed one person and injured two others before a Secret Service sniper fatally shot him. Secret Service Deputy Director Matt Quinn has now told CBS News six agency staffers were put on unpaid leave for 10 to 42 days after the attempt on Trump's life. The agents were denied benefits during their suspension, and when they came back to work, they were placed into restricted duty or roles with less operational responsibility, according to the CBS report. Quinn admitted the attempted assassination was an 'operational failure' for which the Secret Service is 'totally accountable'. But the deputy director defended the decision not to fire the six agents outright. "We aren't going to fire our way out of this,' he said. 'We're going to focus on the root cause and fix the deficiencies that put us in that situation." Then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle stepped down from her leadership role shortly after the Butler incident and subsequent calls for her resignation. A bipartisan House task force found 'various failures in planning, execution, and leadership' that, mixed with 'preexisting conditions,' created 'an environment in which [Trump] — and everyone at the campaign event — were exposed to grave danger,' according to a 180-page report. The report identified 'preexisting issues in leadership and training' at the Secret Service. That included agency staffers 'with little to no experience in advance planning roles [who] were given significant responsibility, despite the July 13 event being held at a higher-risk outdoor venue with many line of sight issues, in addition to specific intelligence about a long-range threat.' Another assassination attempt on Trump at his Florida golf course on September 15, 2024, was foiled by a Secret Service agent who fired at suspect Ryan Routh before a single shot was fired at Trump. Routh faces federal charges for the assassination attempt.
