President Donald Trump and his loyalists within the administration set a trap for themselves with their constant conspiracy theory appeals to the base, now that they have the task of trying to close the book on the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case and their supporters refuse to accept that they haven't uncovered a "client list" of Democrats involved with his crimes, former Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) explained on CNN Wednesday.
This comes as House Republicans themselves vote against proposals to force the DOJ to turn over the complete set of Epstein files to the public — even as many of them accuse Trump of hiding something — and it also comes as Democrats turn up the heat on the issue.
"I wonder what you're hearing from House Republicans about how they're navigating this ... do they think that Trump may be underestimating the political salience of this whole Epstein thing?" asked anchor Brianna Keilar.
"Well, I think House Republicans are trapped between the president and the president's MAGA base right now," said Dent, a frequent critic of Trump since leaving office. "And frankly, this whole mess is really, it's a consequence of this administration hoisting itself on its own conspiracy theory petard."
"For how many years have we listened to people in the Justice Department — you mentioned them, Patel and Bongino and now Bondi — all out there for years saying that there was an Epstein file. You know, they raised expectations. Here it is," said Dent. "Now they're in positions of power and they're saying there's nothing there. So were they telling the truth back then or are they telling the truth now? And now, of course, the Democrats are piling on and saying, hey, we want more transparency. The Republican MAGA base is saying, yeah, we want transparency, too. And it just feels like the administration is maybe concealing something here. I don't know what that is, but they completely mishandled this."
Bottom line, he added, is that Trump's people are "stewing in their own muck. It's a mess of their own making. And they really aren't sure how to get out from under it. And I think a lot of House Republicans kind of feel like they're — they're kind of trapped here between Trump and a lot of their own voter base now."
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