President Donald Trump is staring down a brewing civil war within his MAGA coalition stemming from his administration’s handling of evidence in the Jeffrey Epstein case, with limited options to tamp down anger.
For years, top Trumpworld figures, some of whom currently hold top administration posts, and even the president himself, speculated about Epstein’s death and his alleged blackmail operation.
Last week, however, the Department of Justice published a memo determining that Epstein did commit suicide in 2019 and that the federal investigation into the disgraced financier did not uncover any alleged “client list.”
TRUMP REVEALS HE SPOKE TO BONGINO AMID RIFT WITH BONDI OVER EPSTEIN FILES: ‘HE’S IN GOOD SHAPE’
Trump spent the ensuing week telling his base to move on from the topic, but that hasn’t quieted the backlash among the MAGA faithful, with some suggesting a cover-up to shield Trump, who had a decadeslong relationship with Epstein before launching his political career.
“Let’s not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about,” the president wrote on Truth Social over the weekend. This was Trump’s first “ratioed” post on the platform since it launched over three years ago.
The subject has even splintered the DOJ itself, pitting both FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino against Attorney General Pam Bondi. Before joining the administration, Patel and Bongino frequently discussed the Epstein conspiracies on social media, podcasts, and various television appearances.
Even Vice President JD Vance speculated about the rumored client list in 2021, saying in a social media post, “What possible interest would the U.S. government have in keeping Epstein’s clients secret?”
White House insiders told Axios that Trump appears to be the only administration official nonplussed by the Epstein fallout. However, other senior aides are exploring three off-ramps should the president change his mind.
Those options include appointing a new special counsel to fully review the federal investigation and case against Epstein, publishing unredacted versions of previously released Epstein files, and asking courts to lift previously placed seals on Epstein records.
“The president said to put this behind us, so we’re putting this behind us,” a top adviser told the outlet. “If he changes, then the policy changes. Period.”
Laura Loomer, a conservative activist Trump is particularly fond of, backed appointing a special counsel in a weekend interview with Politico and ultimately blamed Bondi.
“There should be a special counsel appointed to do an independent investigation of the handling of the Epstein files so that people can feel like this issue is being investigated, and perhaps take it out of [Bondi’s] hands, because I don’t think that she has been transparent or done a good job handling this issue,” she stated.
“When people voted for President Trump, releasing the Epstein files was something that was promised to the base,” Loomer continued. “The base is unhappy, and I think that this issue isn’t going to go away.”
Picking up on that logic, one senior White House aide told the Washington Examiner that the president has another option to please the Loomers of the world: fire Bondi.
“She’s the obvious fall guy, but POTUS doesn’t seem to want to go that route,” that person assessed.
Administration officials previously told the Washington Examiner that Bondi’s handling of the entire Epstein saga had infuriated White House brass.
In February, Bondi held a press conference at which she handed out binders of what she claimed to be new, “declassified” Epstein records. However, the incident was quickly mocked on social media after it was revealed that the binders contained no new information.
Then, in March, the attorney general said during an interview on Fox News that the alleged Epstein client list was “sitting on [her] desk right now,” waiting for the president’s approval to be released, a claim that the DOJ summarily undermined last week.
Patel and Bongino have flirted with resigning over Bondi’s handling of the Epstein files. Bongino reportedly shouted at Bondi at the White House last Thursday before not showing up to work on Friday, but Trump told reporters Sunday that he had spoken to both Patel and Bongino and convinced them to remain in their posts.
And rather than throwing Bondi under the bus, Trump has stood by his attorney general in the face of mounting criticism from the right.
At a Cabinet meeting last week, the president jumped in to field a question, directed to Bondi, about the July 7 memo. Trump criticized the reporter, claiming that asking about Epstein was a “desecration” considering other pressing matters at hand.
On Saturday, the president penned a nearly 400-word social media post shaming the MAGA base for turning their ire on Bondi.
“What’s going on with my “boys” and, in some cases, “gals?” They’re all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! We’re on one Team, MAGA, and I don’t like what’s happening,” he wrote. “We have a PERFECT Administration, THE TALK OF THE WORLD, and “selfish people” are trying to hurt it, all over a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein. For years, it’s Epstein, over and over again.”
And on Sunday, Bondi was by Trump’s side as the president attended the FIFA Club World Cup in New Jersey.