Latest news with #LizWheeler
Washington Post
19-07-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
How MAGA influencers put pressure on Trump, Bondi over Epstein
When conservative podcaster Liz Wheeler visited the White House along with other MAGA influencers on Feb. 27, Attorney General Pam Bondi handed her a binder labeled 'The Epstein Files: Phase 1.' Wheeler hoped the contents might be the first step toward finally getting to the bottom of the deceased sex offender's elite inner circle and who else might have been involved in wrongdoing.
The Independent
14-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Trump vs MAGA: Epstein Files spark unprecedented division between president and his base that thinks he's ‘out of touch'
A growing number of President Donald Trump 's devoted followers are calling him 'out of touch' and 'misleading' after he encouraged people to move on from the Epstein Files. For years, right-wing influencers have circulated theories online about the government's investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and his death in federal prison, perpetuating claims that a ring of high-profile, powerful individuals helped cover up the convicted pedophile's actions and ensure he never stood trial. But last week's Justice Department and FBI memo shut down many of those theories, including the existence of a 'client list,' and disappointed many Trump supporters who refused to believe the absence of bombshell revelations. Tension between the president and parts of his base was palpable this weekend after Trump told people to 'not waste Time and Energy of Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about' in a Truth Social post. 'Trump is very out of touch right now… Really sad to see,' Anthony Sabatini, a Florida state politician and Trump supporter, wrote on X. 'RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!' Liz Wheeler, a conservative political commentator, said: 'Trump is massively misreading his base on this one. It could cost him the midterms.' 'No one is believing the Epstein coverup, @realDonaldTrump. This will be part of your legacy. There's still time to change it!' Mike Cernovich, a right-wing influencer known as 'Cernovich' on X, told Trump. Wheeler, Cernovich, and other conservative influencers were invited to the White House earlier this year and granted exclusive access to the first document drop in the Epstein Files. However, it was quickly revealed that much of the information contained in the binders was already in the public domain. But the group, and others in the rightwing media sphere, remained hopeful as one of Trump's campaign promises had been to release all information related to the Epstein investigation. When he took office, Trump tapped Kash Patel to serve as FBI director and Dan Bongino to serve as deputy FBI director. Patel and Bongino, former conservative activists and media personalities, had been among the loudest voices alleging a cover-up in the Epstein investigation before taking up their government posts. Trump's Attorney General Pam Bondi also accused the Southern District of New York of hiding information not previously known about Epstein, and insinuated that a 'client list' was part of files on her desk to be reviewed. (Last week, she clarified she meant the files as a whole were on her desk, and that she was not referring to a client list specifically.) The DOJ/FBI memo concluded that there was no client list, that Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019, and that no further investigation into third parties was warranted. The conclusions set off a firestorm of criticism on the right. 'It's a shame that a lot of good people are getting attacked as a result of the order to protect the pedos in the Epstein Files. This isn't going away,' wrote Rogan O'Handley, known as 'DC Draino' on X. Laura Loomer, a close ally of Trump, blamed Bondi for the Epstein Files fallout and called on the president to fire her. 'We were promised transparency on the Jeffrey Epstein files. Instead, we got Pam Blondi @PamBondi, a Fox News addict waving around a binder of heavily redacted and recycled documents like it's some sort of bombshell,' Loomer wrote on X. Trump doubled down on his support for Bondi and Bongino over the weekend but that did little to quell some supporters' anger. 'Trump's persuasive power over his base, especially during his first term, was almost magical. Calling out obvious mistakes he made would get you an ass chewing. 'Trust the plan!' The reaction on Epstein should thus be startling to him. No one is buying it. No one is dropping it,' Cernovich added. And at the Student Action Summit, hosted by the conservative group Turning Point USA this past weekend, there seemed little interest in letting the matter drop, NBC News reported. Conservative podcaster Brandon Tatum shared his own theory to the crowd of young conservatives, and added: 'I don't think they're telling us the truth about Epstein.'
Yahoo
13-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Remember Trump's Influencers on the Epstein Files? They're Pissed
The MAGA influencers who victoriously walked out of the White House in February holding white binders titled 'THE EPSTEIN FILES: PHASE 1' are now enraged at the Trump administration's announcement that there is no damning client list, and that disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein did indeed commit suicide in 2019. Conservative commentator Liz Wheeler, who received one of those binders from Attorney General Pam Bondi in February, is now calling for her head, as the MAGA right is scapegoating Bondi for whatever actions Trump has yet to take on their white whale of a case. 'Going back to that day at the White House in February … Pam Bondi bragged to us about making that cover sheet on the binder, the one that read 'the most transparent administration in history.' She said she had made it, she had printed it, she was proud of it.… To call that a severe lack of judgment would be the understatement of the year,' Wheeler said on the Glenn Beck Show on Monday. Wheeler then insisted that Bondi told her in February that the binder didn't contain all of the juicy, incriminating details MAGA wanted because someone from the 'deep state' had infiltrated the FBI to block the notorious client list from being released. 'Contextualizing all of this, this seems like unforgivable behavior. How could she give the American people those 'phase 1' binders that contained nothing? While at the same time bragging about the cover sheet that she made … and tell us that the SDNY had the real goods, that the binders were just proof of a deep state cover-up, only now to say, 'Sorry, there's actually nothing,'' Wheeler continued. 'I think the administration is probably just now coming to the realization of how much goodwill this whole debacle has cost them with their voters, and Pam Bondi is not worth it.' Wheeler later called for Bondi's outright firing. Wheeler does unfortunately have a point. Bondi went on Fox News two separate times to promote the release of the Epstein files, saying in February that 'they're on my desk right now' and claiming the next month that she had a 'truckload of documents' about Epstein coming to her. People like Rogan O'Handley (DC_Draino) and Chaya Raichik (LibsofTikTok) celebrated these announcements at the time but are now publicly seething, feeling betrayed and confused. '2 truths: Epstein didn't kill himself & Epstein didn't sex traffick to himself,' Handley wrote on Monday. 'I understand the rage people have for demanding the Epstein client list and arrests. Every influencer there that day feels the same anger watching pedo elites get away with the most heinous crimes. We want justice and almost all of us have called for the client list and arrests for years,' he continued. 'I want answers on Epstein. As many as possible. Not press releases. Answers,' said Jack Posobiec, another binder receiver. '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,' he opined. The most hardcore of the MAGA conspiracy theorists seem to be taking this pretty hard. Not only are they unable to acquit their president, who has his own Epstein connections, but they have also been shown yet again that the Trump administration will only deliver lip service to their most important fantasies. Whether it's releasing the client list or ending endless wars, Trump has skewed more neocon than MAGA, and this time angered his base once again.
