Trump supporters explode as president launches 'red meat' deflection tactic amid fury over Epstein 'cover-up'
The FBI is probing ex-CIA Director John Brennan and FBI Director James Comey in relation to their investigations into Donald Trump 's links to Russia in the 2016 election.
The probe will specifically examine whether the duo made false statements to Congress.
But MAGA supporters are saying the timing of the investigation announcement is suspicious.
It came days after an unsigned memo by Trump allies Pam Bondi's DOJ and Kash Patel's FBI stated that the review was closed and found that Epstein did commit suicide.
Trump supporters have speculated for years that disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein did not kill himself in prison and was murdered so he wouldn't be able to implicate other high-profile individuals in his crimes.
Trump's base had also demanded the FBI release a so-called 'client list' that they felt would reveal Epstein's co-conspirators.
But the memo also found that there was never a comprehensive 'client list' that the pedophile used for blackmail.
As MAGA world was set ablaze with fury over the lack of revelations, the FBI announced the investigation into the men behind the Trump-Russia collusion probe.
'Now they are dangling the prosecutions of Comey and Brennan to try and make us forget about Epstein. Not gonna work,' Liberty Lockdown podcast host Clint Russel posted to X.
The FBI launched probes into former CIA Director John Brennan (left) and former FBI Director James Comey (right) on their roles in the investigation into whether Russia colluded with Trump in the 2016 presidential election
'In a desperate move to throw red meat to the MAGA base after the Jeffrey Epstein news, Kash Patel's FBI has launched a criminal investigation into former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey over potential wrongdoing related to the Trump–Russia probe,' a Republican X account wrote, calling it a 'pathetic' move.
Another account said the investigation is an attempt to 'turn the page' on billionaire Elon Musk claiming that Trump is on Epstein's client list.
Trump's Attorney General Pam Bondi has landed squarely in the line of MAGA's fire.
She attempted to silence conspiracy theories by explaining the mysterious one-minute gap in surveillance footage from outside Jeffrey Epstein's jail cell on the night he died.
During a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, Bondi insisted that a one-minute gap in the video was part of a routine daily reset that takes place at the Metropolitan Detention Center.
'The video was not conclusive, but the evidence prior to it was showing he committed suicide,' Bondi said, adding that the missing minute was not unique to the Epstein video.
'There was a minute that was off the counter, and what we learned from the Bureau of Prisons is every night they redo that video... every night should have the same minute missing.'
Bondi also claimed the DOJ would look to release footage from other nights to prove the missing minute was a routine quirk of the prison's surveillance system.
'We're looking for that video to release that as well, to show that a minute is missing every night,' she said. 'And that's it on Epstein.'
Bondi is already under fire from furious conservatives for failing to deliver promised revelations including an Epstein 'client list'.
A growing number of right-wing voices are now calling for her resignation.
It's no secret that Trump associated with Epstein in the 1980s and 1990s and that he was listed several times on the financier's flight log for his private plane.
One X account claimed that the criminal investigations into Comey and Brennan is a way for FBI Director Kash Patel to go after two main intelligence officials who might have information related to Epstein since they were overseeing the FBI and CIA in the years ahead of his 2019 arrest.
'[I]f there was evidence related to Epstein, or other subjects, the ones who would have destroyed/hidden it all, would have been Comey and Brennan in 2015 before Trump took office the first time,' an account named WArClandestine posted. 'They were overseeing the FBI and CIA at the time.'
'There's more going on behind the scenes than we as the public see/understand. We are in the middle of a shadow war, and only portions of it reach the surface,' they claimed. 'There's a lot of ballgame left. Let it unfold.'
The scope of the criminal investigations into Brennan and Comey was unclear, according to a Fox News report first bringing to light news of the probes.
Trump-nominated CIA Director John Ratcliffe referred Brennan, who served in that role under former Democratic President Barack Obama, for potential prosecution, according to the report.
A criminal investigation does not necessarily result in charges.
'I am glad to see that the Department of Justice is opening up this investigation,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Jesse Watters.
The probes reportedly target two former officials who have long drawn the ire of Trump and his supporters for their role in investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Comey led the FBI when authorities began a criminal investigation in 2016 into potential coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russian government to influence the election.
Trump fired Comey in 2017 early in his first term after Comey publicly confirmed Trump was under investigation.
The probe was then taken over by former Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who found no evidence of a criminal conspiracy between Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia.
Trump railed against the investigation for years and has repeatedly dismissed it as the 'Russia hoax.'
Brennan led the CIA when US intelligence assessed, in a report made public in January 2017, that Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to sway the 2016 vote in favor of Trump.
A CIA review released last week found flaws in the preparation of the 2017 assessment, but it did not contest its underlying conclusion.
Reuters reached out to Brennan, Comey, the CIA and the FBI for comment but had not heard back at the time of publication.
The Justice Department told the Daily Mail that it does not comment on ongoing investigations.
Trump has long branded the FBI's Trump-Russia probe, which the bureau code-named Crossfire Hurricane, as a politically motivated 'witch hunt'.
During Trump's first term, the Justice Department appointed a separate special counsel, John Durham, to examine any missteps in the FBI's Russia investigation.
Durham found that the FBI did not have enough 'factual evidence' t o investigate allegations of Trump-Russia collusion.
Durham's report is a comprehensive summary of findings related to investigations into whether the then-Trump campaign in 2016 colluded with Russia to meddle with the election outcome.
It found that the Department of Justice and the FBI 'failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law' when launching the Trump-Russia probe .
Durham brought charges against three lower-level figures who worked on the probe or provided information to investigators, but did not find evidence of a conspiracy to target Trump.
At the time the report was released, Trump said it felt like a 'great vindication', noting the report was 'widely praised.'
'All of these people are -- I guess you could call it treason. You could call it a lot of different things. But this should never be allowed to happen in our country again,' added Trump.
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