Trump, White House race to stem Epstein conspiracy fallout

WASHINGTON – For years, US President Donald Trump and his Republican allies benefited from conspiracy theories that fuelled the conservative Make America Great Again (Maga) movement and targeted his political enemies.

Now, the persisting furore over files related to accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein has forced Mr Trump into an unfamiliar role: trying to shut a conspiracy theory down.

Epstein, a wealthy financier and convicted sex offender, was facing federal charges of sex-trafficking minors when he died by suicide in jail in 2019. He had pleaded not guilty, and the case was dismissed after his death.

The saga burst back into the news after the Trump administration

reversed course

on its pledge to release documents it suggested would reveal major revelations about Epstein and his alleged clientele. That reversal has enraged some of Mr Trump’s most loyal followers.

In an effort to contain the fallout, Mr Trump and White House officials are weighing a range of options, including

unsealing new documents

, appointing a special prosecutor and drafting executive actions on issues such as paedophilia, according to two White House sources with knowledge of the matter.

Mr Trump and senior aides have also

reached out to key Maga-aligned influencers

, urging them to dial down their criticism of the administration’s handling of the Epstein investigation and shift focus to broader priorities for the America First movement, one source said.

The backlash over the Epstein case has laid bare tensions inside Mr Trump’s coalition and is testing one of his most enduring political strengths: his ability to command loyalty and control the narrative across the right.

The outcry comes amid discontent among parts of Mr Trump’s base over the US strikes on Iran,

continued involvement in Ukraine

and any hint of backsliding on the administration’s hardline immigration promises.

The two sources said the intra-party friction was damaging to the coalition, and that the White House was actively trying to restore unity, though they did not expect the Epstein controversy to dent Mr Trump’s core support.

Many conservative influencers and hard-right media figures remain unconvinced by a Justice Department memo last week that concluded there was “no incriminating client list” or any evidence that Epstein may have blackmailed prominent people.

The review also confirmed prior findings by the FBI that concluded that Epstein killed himself in his jail cell while awaiting trial, and that his death was not the result of a criminal act such as murder.

Mr Trump knew Epstein socially in the 1990s and early 2000s.

During the 2021 trial of

Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell

, the financier’s longtime pilot, Mr Lawrence Visoski, testified that Mr Trump flew on Epstein’s private plane multiple times. Mr Trump has denied ever being on the plane and has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

That history now complicates Mr Trump’s response, as he works to reassure a base steeped in long-running suspicions about Epstein and his connection to influential figures.

Trump backs Bondi

Mr Trump has defended Attorney-General Pam Bondi against calls for her firing by some Maga personalities. He has urged his supporters to move on from the Epstein saga.

“I don’t understand why the Jeffrey Epstein case is of interest to anybody,” Mr Trump told reporters on July 15. “It’s pretty boring stuff. It’s sordid, but it’s boring, and I don’t understand why it keeps going.”

Both White House sources said there were mistakes in how information about the Epstein files was shared with pro-Trump influencers, especially by Ms Bondi, who previously implied that a list of Epstein’s clients existed.

When asked if she expected to keep her job, Ms Bondi said: “I am going to be here for as long as the president wants me here, and I believe he’s made that crystal clear.”

In a statement on July 15, the White House said Mr Trump’s law-and-order team remains focused on “Making America Safe Again” and “restoring the integrity of our criminal justice system”.

While some prominent voices outside the administration are falling back in line, others are not.

Mr Charlie Kirk, a key Maga influencer who amplified doubts about the Epstein probe, abruptly reversed course after a call with Mr Trump, one of the sources said.

On July 14, Mr Kirk posted on social-media platform X: “I’m done talking about Epstein. I’m gonna trust my friends in the government.”

Mr Trump’s call for critics to back off is not landing everywhere.

Podcast hosts, including Mr Joe Rogan, Mr Theo Von and Mr Tim Dillon, whose large audiences are not necessarily pro-Trump but broadly anti-establishment and helped propel his election victory, are unlikely to let up, according to Mr Angelo Carusone, president of the progressive non-profit watchdog group Media Matters for America.

“Trump seems very disconnected from the zeitgeist that put him into power in the first place,” Mr Carusone said.

Some of Mr Trump’s staunchest political allies also are keeping the pressure on. House Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson, called on July 15 for the Justice Department to release more Epstein documents.

Representative Lauren Boebert, a hardline Maga supporter, made her own demand on X: “We deserve the truth about the Epstein files. I’m ready for a Special Counsel to handle this.” REUTERS