Jeffrey Epstein conspiracy theories come back to haunt Donald Trump
Having covered several administrations, I know from my own experience that there’s one common complaint among White House reporters, no matter who is president: Lack of access. Why isn’t he more available? Why won’t he take our questions?
That’s not true of President Trump, though. He’ll stop and take questions anywhere, anytime, on any topic. Well, almost any topic.
As we discovered last week, he’ll take questions on any topic but one.
“Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?” Trump exploded to a reporter who asked about Epstein at a July 8 Cabinet meeting. “This guy’s been talked about for years. … And people are still talking about this guy, this creep?”
Trump doesn’t want to talk about Epstein for a couple of reasons. For one, he’d rather brag about his “One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act” that recently passed. For another, he’d rather forget about a convicted sexual predator whom, years earlier, he once described to New York Magazine as a “terrific guy” and “a lot of fun to be with.”
But people are still talking about Epstein and, to Trump’s dismay, will continue talking about him. Trump’s problem is that it’s not Democrats who are talking about Epstein but his MAGA base, who are angry at the way they believe Trump has sold out on the Epstein scandal.
Trump begged MAGA supporters not to waste any more time on Epstein. He’s even tried to blame it all on Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Barack Obama. But many of his MAGA supporters aren’t buying it. Why? Because, ever since his apparent suicide in a federal prison cell in August 2019, MAGA commentators, with Trump’s blessing, whipped up a conspiracy that the Biden Justice Department was lying about Epstein’s suicide and covering up his client list to protect the “elites” who allegedly took part in Epstein’s sexual depravity — and promised that, under a Trump Department of Justice, the sordid Epstein files would be released.
In a 2023 interview with right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson, for example, MAGA activist Kash Patel accused Congress of blocking the release of Epstein’s purported client list “because of who’s on that list.” On his own podcast, Dan Bongino repeatedly questioned the handling of the Epstein investigation. “What the hell are they hiding with Jeffrey Epstein?” he asked in 2023.
But now Patel is director of the FBI. Bongino is his deputy director. Pam Bondi, another Epstein conspiratorialist, is attorney general. And, after Bondi told Fox News in February that the Epstein list was “sitting on my desk right now,” the Justice Department and FBI released a joint statement that contradicted everything Patel, Bongino and others had claimed for years: There is, in fact, no evidence that Epstein was murdered or kept a client list.
That abrupt reversal, attempting to bury the whole Epstein matter, has inflamed the president’s MAGA base against Bondi and Trump himself. In effect, they now accuse him of selling out and demand Bondi’s resignation.
It was the main topic of conversation at last weekend’s conservative Student Action Summit in Tampa. “I don’t think they’re telling us the truth about Epstein,” podcaster Brandon Tatum told the assembled crowd of 7,000 student activists. Conservative commentator Megyn Kelly asked the crowd a simple question: “Who do you believe? Bondi or Bongino?”
“Bongino!” they roared in response.
Former Trump senior adviser Steve Bannon accused Trump of not being as “transparent” as he promised and urged him to name a special counsel to take over the Epstein case. And, in a post, former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn warned Trump: “Please understand the EPSTEIN AFFAIR is not going away.”
The irony is that Bondi is probably right. Most likely, Epstein did commit suicide and did not keep a client list. But Trump and others did such a good job of selling MAGA leaders the lies about Epstein that it’s now impossible to sell them the truth. This split in the MAGA world is entirely of Trump’s own making.
Starting with the Obama birther movement, Trump has long thrived on conspiracy theories. Now he is paying the price. If there’s a lesson to be learned, it’s this: Be careful of the monsters you create with your conspiracy theories, because they might come back to haunt you — which is exactly what Epstein is doing to Trump now.
Bill Press is host of “The Bill Press Pod.” He is the author of “From the Left: A Life in the Crossfire.”