US Politics
Trump vents that MAGA won’t ‘shut the f*** up’ about Epstein list controversy, says report
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President Donald Trump has had enough with MAGA’s frustrations over the anticlimactic result of the highly anticipated release of Jeffrey Epstein’s “client list,” according to a report.
On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly promised to release FBI files related to Epstein, who died behind bars in 2019 while awaiting his sex trafficking trial.
Trump’s MAGA supporters erupted earlier this month, when his Department of Justice released a memo stating there was no evidence to support a so-called “client list” of those Epstein, according to some, blackmailed over their alleged involvement in his trafficking scheme.
The unsatisfying conclusion to the hyped-up saga has incited the wrath of right-wing influencers.
Conservative commentator Candace Owens decried the scandal as a “terminal cancer to the MAGA movement.” Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson argued: “The fact that the U.S. government, the one that I voted for, refused to take my question seriously and instead said, ‘Case closed, shut up conspiracy theorist,’ was too much for me.”
“They won’t shut the f*** up about it,” Trump privately fumed over his prominent supporters’ complaints, a source told Rolling Stone.
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But it’s not just online personalities. Trump’s GOP allies in Congress have also spoken out, with many demanding heightened transparency around the case.
Kentucky Republican Congressman Thomas Massie promised to force a House vote on “releasing the COMPLETE files.” Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene blasted: “This is the most famous pedophile in modern-day history, and people are absolutely not going to accept just a memo that was written that says there is no client list.” Trump has, in turn, dubbed Republicans pursuing the files “stupid” and “foolish.”
“The week was a big kick in the balls,” a senior administration official told the magazine. “It was a lot to deal with and there were many emotions.”
The handling of the Epstein files has rocked the administration internally as well. Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino reportedly weighed leaving his post after he clashed with Attorney General Pam Bondi following the release of the memo.
Now the administration is tasked with dealing with the fallout.
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“It’s a mess, and nobody seems to know if the next attempt to make things better with the base will just make things worse,” a Republican operative told Rolling Stone.
Laura Loomer, a far-right activist close to the president, suggested Trump appoint a special counsel to look into the matter.
But in recent days, the president seems to be digging himself deeper into the Epstein hole. This week, he claimed the files were “made up” by former FBI Director James Comey and former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. On Tuesday, he doubled down on this claim before pointing out that the decision to release more documents is up to Bondi: “It’s going to be up to her. Whatever she thinks is credible, she should release.”
Publicly, he has also been fuming about MAGA’s fixation on the Epstein files.
On Wednesday, the president took to Truth Social to air his discontentment with his base. Claiming the Epstein files were a “hoax” cooked up by Democrats, Trump wrote: “my PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bullshit,’ hook, line, and sinker.” He slammed: “Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore!”
Trump’s former “first buddy” Elon Musk, who previously accused Trump of being named in the Epstein files, without providing evidence, blasted Trump’s claim that Democrats were behind the “hoax.” The tech billionaire wrote on X on Tuesday: “Wow, amazing that Epstein ‘killed himself’ and Ghislaine is in federal prison for a hoax.”
A Trump administration official told the magazine: “He is making it very hard for some of his biggest supporters to not think that maybe he really is in the Epstein files.”
A new poll conducted by The Economist and YouGov this week found most Americans — 67 percent — believe the government is hiding evidence related to the late financier.
