The furor over the Jeffrey Epstein case doesn't appear likely to blow over with the MAGA base anytime soon.
Donald Trump's conspiracy-minded base was blindsided this week by the Justice Department memo stating the notorious sex trafficker had killed himself in 2019 and had not kept a "client list," and the president himself bristled Tuesday when a reporter asked attorney general Pam Bondi about the findings, reported Axios.
"Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?" Trump said at the Cabinet meeting. "I can't believe you're asking a question about Epstein at a time like this."
Right-wing luminaries like Steve Bannon, Tucker Carlson and Elon Musk have accused the administration of covering for elites close to Epstein, who has long been the subject of conspiracy theories alleging blackmail of powerful figures through his sex trafficking network, and one MAGA figure told Axios the issue was too important for Trump's base to let go.
"The Epstein situation is sending massive ripples through the base – trust is being lost," that MAGA media figure said. "Mostly the people around him, but somewhat Trump."
"Anything Epstein just blows up," that person added. "People were promised Epstein files and they've been lied to over and over and over again. This will not just go away."
FBI director Kash Patel and deputy director Dan Bongino, who both floated Epstein conspiracies before entering government roles, have so far escaped the worst wrath, but MAGA influencers say they feel "gaslit" by Bondi, who doesn't have the same ties to the right-wing movement and promised to release a "list of clients" that she claimed was sitting on her desk.
"Don't sit there and tell me there's nothing when you told me there was something, that's the issue for the AG," said MAGA podcaster Jack Posobiec this week on Steve Bannon's "War Room" program. "Put out everything you have."
So far, the attorney general's job seems safe, and there's no indication for now that Trump's base will abandon him over the issue.
"President Trump is proud of Attorney General Bondi's efforts to execute his Make America Safe Again agenda, restore the integrity of the Department of Justice, and bring justice to victims of crime," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. "The continued fixation on sowing division in President Trump's Cabinet is baseless and unfounded in reality."
