The Jeffrey Epstein scandal has hovered like a dark cloud over the first year of Donald Trump's second presidency, and a Republican strategist released a forecast on where the political fallout would land.
The president's longtime association with the late sex offender has periodically exploded into the foreground after backtracking on campaign promises to release investigative files about Epstein's trafficking network, and GOP strategist Malik Abdul told "CNN News Central" that Trump was largely to blame for the scandal's durability.
"They got themessaging all wrong," Abdul said. "You can'tdeny, deny, deny, and because Donald Trump surrounded himselfwith people like [FBI Deputy Director] Dan Bongino,who built a cult following onthe Epstein files, well, they'renow a part of hisadministration, and so youcan't that same energy thatpeople had as far as releasingthe information, even though Democrats didn't do anything onit when [Joe] Biden was in office, theenergy behind it is still there, and I think, do believe that inthat sense it was amiscalculation."
However, Abdul doubts the scandal will be an issue during the midterm election cycle, even thought the Department of Justice has not complied with a law passed last month compelling the release of all the Epstein files.
"I don'tthink that it will be a factorgoing into next year andespecially the midterms," he said, "becauseI am convinced that if therewere any evidence that Donald Trump was complicit in any sortof crime and not just a crime,even knowledge of a crime, wewould already know that by thispoint. So I think by this timenext year, I think that we will, of course, we would have had themidterm elections. But I thinkthat by this time next year itwon't be an issue. The economyand what the administration'smessage is on the economy willbe the issue next year, forsure."