US president dismisses lingering questions about accused sex trafficker after law enforcement review dismays supporters.
United States President Donald Trump has waved away lingering questions about accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein after the release of a law enforcement memo about the case incensed segments of his MAGA base.
Trump’s angry dismissal of the continuing interest in the case on Tuesday came after a joint review by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI concluded that Epstein died by suicide and did not possess a “client list”.
“Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy’s been talked about for years,” Trump said in response to a reporter’s question directed at US Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“Are people still talking about this guy, this creep? That is unbelievable,” Trump continued, before asking Bondi if she wanted to “waste the time” addressing the question.
“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,” Trump said.
“It just seems like a desecration.”
Prominent figures in Trump’s “Make America Great Again” coalition reacted to Monday’s memo with disbelief and outrage, accusing members of the administration of joining a cover-up about the truth of Epstein’s death and his connections to political and financial elites.
Alex Jones, the founder of the conspiracy website InfoWars, called the memo “over the top sickening” and suggested the DOJ might next claim that Epstein “never even existed”.
Laura Loomer, a far-right activist and influencer, called on Bondi to resign, suggesting in a radio interview that she appeared more interested in being “another Fox News Barbie” than doing her job as attorney general.
In an episode of his podcast, Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson claimed Bondi was covering up “very serious crimes”.
Conspiracy theories suggesting that Epstein was murdered and possessed sexually compromising material on powerful figures have circulated widely since his 2019 death in a Manhattan jail cell, particularly in right-wing circles.
Before the release of Monday’s memo, senior Trump administration figures, including Bondi and FBI director Kash Patel, had been among the most prominent figures to lend credence to the existence of a list of Epstein’s clients.
In an interview with Fox News in February, Bondi was asked if her department planned to release “the list of Jeffrey Epstein’s clients”, to which she responded: “It’s sitting on my desk right now to review.”
On Tuesday, Bondi sought to clarify those comments, saying they referred to documents about the Epstein case, rather than a specific list.
Bondi also said that she had “no knowledge” of whether Epstein worked with US or foreign intelligence agencies and that thousands of videos reviewed in the case could not be released as they consisted of child sexual exploitation material.
“Child porn is what they were. Never going to be released, never going to see the light of day,” she said.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/9/trump-blasts-maga-focus-on-jeffrey-epstein-after-memo-causes-uproar?traffic_source=rss
