One of Donald Trump's former staffers faced pushback on a CNN panel for downplaying the fallout over the Jeffrey Epstein case.
The president has ignited a MAGA firestorm by ordering his followers to stop questioning the matter after the Department of Justice disputed conspiracy theories about the case, but CNN's Betsy Klein said that has only amplified the divisions in his right-wing base.
"The thing is that we are essentially witnessing the 'Frankenstein' scenario," said Klein, a White House correspondent for the network. "This is Trump versus MAGA, the movement that he created to the point where the president is now saying, 'If you're not on my side on this, I disavow your support.'"
The president issued a loyalty test to his supporters by demanding they drop their interest in the matter, implausibly claiming that his Democratic opponents had made up the sex trafficking case against his former friend, and former White House communications director Mike Dubke expressed surprise the scandal had such staying power.
"I'm frankly a little surprised that this has been going as long as it has this week within the administration," said Dubke, who worked for Trump in early 2017. "This Epstein, for better or worse, is not going to go away. It's going to stay as part of the conversation, and it will be interesting how congressional members try to sort themselves out through all of this. The worst thing this administration could do, though, is to appoint a special counsel, and I want to say that over and over and over. I don't care what Laura Loomer says, I don't care what others say. Do not do that. That is a fever dream of D.C. insiders for this administration to appoint, and the president inched his way there yesterday."
Trump and his top officials have promised to be the most transparent administration in history, but "CNN This Morning" host Audie Cornish said their position on the Epstein case seems to contradict that pledge.
"It's an interesting moment watching this all play out within a community, right," Cornish said. "It is a civil war, as much as Democrats are, you know, throwing popcorn at me like, 'Yeah, we want a special counsel, sounds great,' like, it feels like this is internal warfare."
Dubke downplayed the importance of anything a special counsel might turn up about the disgraced financier, who took his own life while awaiting trial in jail.
"I have never seen transparency come out of a special counsel's report – ever," Dubke said.
"Oh, really?" Cornish said.