Trump tries to stem the MAGA movement’s rebellion over the Epstein case

U.S. President Donald Trump defended Attorney General Pam Bondi this weekend with a social media post meant to quell the criticism from some of his followers over the administration’s handling of the so-called “Epstein Files,” involving the late financier and sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein. The MAGA movement has long supported conspiracy theories about the fate of the tycoon, who died by suicide in August 2019 in his New York prison cell while awaiting trial. The Attorney General recently claimed there was “no list,“ despite having earlier said that the list — presumably containing the names of Epstein’s clients — was on her desk. In a Saturday post on his social media platform, Truth Social, the president enthusiastically defended Bondi, asserting that she is doing “a FANTASTIC JOB,” in his usual emphatic capital letters. But by the early hours of Monday (ET), the post had received over 44,611 replies, more than the number of likes (39,400) or shares (12,800), an unusual ratio even on a platform where the vast majority of users are normally sympathetic to Trump. Some of the comments accused the president of “gaslighting” them on this issue and warned him that it will “kill MAGA.”

Privately, the president has redoubled his support for Bondi through members of his inner circle, whom he has tasked with trying to convince the attorney general’s most radical critics to quiet down. One of the leading detractors is the far-right activist Laura Loomer, who last week called for Bondi’s ouster. The message conveyed to critics is that Trump, for the time being, has no plans to get rid of his Justice Department chief.

“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,” is how Trump’s lengthy 400-word post began.

According to CNN, FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino has informed his colleagues that he is considering resigning due to the clash between the federal agency and the Department of Justice following the release of two new videos from the night of the businessman’s suicide. These videos conclude that there is no evidence that Jeffrey Epstein had a “client list” that might have included Trump. This new information also rules out the possibility that he was murdered in his cell, as conspiracy theorists have since claimed (some even attributing the hypothetical murder to Epstein’s involvement in the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency).

Criticism from Steve Bannon and Tucker Carlson

In addition to the normally ultra-loyal Loomer, Steve Bannon, who was Trump’s advisor at the start of his first term in office, dedicated a large portion of his influential podcast War Room to the new investigation, questioning its transparency. And Tucker Carlson, a former Fox News host and agitator for the American right, claimed on his podcast that Bondi is covering up very serious crimes, without providing evidence.

When Trump had his fallout with his former “First Buddy” Elon Musk, who headed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the latter fueled the flames of controversy with an incendiary post on his social network, X (formerly Twitter): “@realDonaldTrump is on the Epstein list. That is the real reason why it has not been made public.”

Epstein, whose address book included businessmen, politicians, and even royals such as Prince Andrew of England, fell into disgrace after being arrested in New Jersey and accused of being a sexual predator; he already had a previous 2008 conviction for child abuse in Florida. His case garnered significant media attention due to his ties to powerful and influential people. In August 2019, while awaiting trial in a federal criminal case, Epstein was found unconscious in his jail cell in Manhattan, New York. After being taken to a hospital, his death was certified as a suicide.

His demise, however, was the subject of great scrutiny, and during his 2024 election campaign, Trump indicated that he was considering releasing additional information about the case. Many of the president’s supporters hoped the disclosure would implicate other high-profile figures or undermine the notion that Epstein committed suicide. But the Justice Department announced in a memo last Monday that there was no evidence that Epstein kept a “client list” or that he was murdered, fueling anger and suspicion among many on the fringes of the MAGA movement, such as Loomer, Bannon, and Carlson.

The hard core of the Republican administration is also denying any third-party involvement in Epstein’s death and his alleged list of pedophiles, although the president is indelibly haunted by an image, dated February 2000 at Mar-a-Lago, his residence in Florida, in which he and his wife, Melania, can be seen together with Epstein and his right-hand woman, Ghislaine Maxwell, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022 for supplying minors to the deceased financier.

The federal investigation that led to Epstein’s arrest in July 2019 in New Jersey, as well as the financier’s suicide a month later, occurred during Trump’s first term in office. Then-Attorney General Bill Barr personally reviewed the video to ensure there was no evidence of foul play, and the Department of Justice determined that Epstein died by suicide.

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