Trump’s Maga base furious over justice department’s handling of Epstein files – live | Trump administration
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Trump's Maga base furious over justice department's handling of Epstein files
As we reported earlier, Donald Trump is facing a fast-growing a Maga rebellion over his administration’s handling of the Epstein files – the criminal investigation into convicted child sex offender and wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein.
For years, many in the Maga movement have alleged a huge government cover up to protect Epstein, which Trump and his allies – from vice-president JD Vance to FBI director Kash Patel – played up for political gain, claiming an incriminating client list that Epstein purportedly used to blackmail wealthy co-conspirators was being kept secret by the government.
Former conservative podcaster and now deputy FBI director Dan Bongino did the same, along with attorney general Pam Bondi, who in February told Fox News of the list: “It’s sitting on my desk right now to review.”
As my colleagues wrote last week: “Bondi in particular spent months hyping up the materials as being full of damaging details related to child porn and sex trafficking, creating anticipation among a core group of the president’s supporters.”
But last week, a justice department and FBI investigation found there was no secret client list to be released, and that Epstein died by suicide in federal custody in August 2019, which has also long been the subject of rightwing conspiracy theorists who believe he may have been killed before he could implicate famous associates.
Coming after Trump’s administration created so much anticipation that the alleged list would be publicly disclosed, per Politico: “Now? It’s a huge credibility problem. Vance, Patel, Bongino and Bondi – among others – effectively have to either acknowledge that they were not just wrong about the government covering up for Epstein, but actually making stuff up, or they come off like they’re part of a cover-up themselves.”
Indeed the findings have prompted rightwing influencers who are frequently in favor of Trump’s policies to suggest that the federal government is protecting a powerful cabal of pedophiles, with particular ire directed at Bondi who many in Maga world have demanded be fired.
Key events
Adam Gabbatt
Donald Trump managed something unusual last week. In his administration’s claim that it did not have a list of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged clients, and that the convicted sex offender was not murdered, it succeeded in upsetting the rightwing influencers and commentators – and reportedly even Trump’s deputy FBI director – people who typically champion his every move.
“This stinks. This just reeks,” was the verdict of Jesse Watters, the primetime Fox News host. He added:
The feds spent decades investigating Epstein and have had total access to his property for years, they still cannot give us a straight answer? This is not anything new; the government has been keeping us in the dark for generations.
Watters was careful not to criticize the Trump administration directly, blaming “the feds” as he described Pam Bondi, the attorney general, and Kash Patel, the director of the FBI, as “great Americans”.
But within the rightwing, Epstein-curious sphere, others had continued to wade in. “Pam Blondi [sic] is covering up child sex crimes that took place under HER WATCH when she was Attorney General of Florida,” wrote Laura Loomer, the 32-year-old conspiracy theorist whose influence over Trump has come under scrutiny.
Loomer accused Bondi of failing to pursue legal action against Epstein, despite lawsuits being filed against him in Florida. “She is afraid of that being discussed and brought to light. She needs to be fired. She has tainted the investigation,” Loomer concluded.
When the justice department said that Epstein did not keep a client list and no more files related to his sex-trafficking investigation would be made public, the White House claimed Bondi had been talking about the “entirety of all of the paperwork and relation to Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes”, which satisfied few rightwing commentators, many of whom have built careers on propagating conspiracy theories.
“We were all told more was coming. That answers were out there and would be provided. Incredible how utterly mismanaged this Epstein mess has been. And it didn’t have to be,” said Jack Posobiec, who promoted the baseless theory that high-level Democrats were running a child sex ring out of a Washington pizzeria. Posobiec was among a group of rightwing influencers who were given binders labeled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1” during a visit to the White House in February – although many were disappointed that those documents contained little new information.
The ire was also inspired by the justice department releasing an 11-hour video showing the exterior of Epstein’s door, apparently in an effort to show no one entered his cell at the time he died. But a minute of the video was missing, which satisfied few on the right.
“There are some extremely bizarre things about the video of Epstein’s cell that Pam Bondi’s DOJ released as proof no one killed him. First, a full minute appears to be missing from the video and secondly, it does NOT appear to be the same cell as the photo released on Jan 5, 2020,” wrote Robby Starbuck, a rightwing influencer and Trump supporter. “Anyone else find this extremely troubling?”
Others were more direct. “NO ONE IS BUYING THIS!! Next the DOJ will say ‘Actually, Jeffrey Epstein never even existed.’ This is over the top sickening,” Alex Jones, the rightwing commentator and conspiracy theorist, wrote on social media.
Trump defends Pam Bondi as his base calls for attorney general's dismissal
Donald Trump has defended attorney general Pam Bondi amid calls from Maga world for her to go.
In a lengthy social media post, Trump hit out at complaints from critics who have accused Bondi of withholding more information about Jeffrey Epstein’s sudden death and his so-called client list.
“LET PAM BONDI DO HER JOB,” Trump wrote in all caps, encouraging his supporters to “not waste time and energy” on Epstein.
Bondi suggested to Fox News in February that Epstein’s client list was “sitting on my desk right now to review”. She had also repeatedly pledged to reveal potentially damaging evidence including “a lot of names” and “a lot of flight logs” relating to Epstein.
But the justice department last week released a memo concluding there was no evidence suggesting the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender kept a “client list” to blackmail high-profile figures. It also found no evidence to suggest foul play in Epstein’s death, which had previously been ruled a suicide.
Bondi sought to clarify her remarks in the White House on Tuesday, telling reporters that she had been commenting on the entire Epstein “file” and other files.
Tucker Carlson has told NBC News this morning that he now believes the justice department doesn’t actually have “much relevant information about Jeffrey Epstein’s sex crimes”. “Rather than just admit that, Pam Bondi made a bunch of ludicrous claims on cable news shows that she couldn’t back up, and this current outrage is the result,” Carlson said.
Trump’s Maga base is furious with Pam Bondi after she failed to deliver on promises of major revelations on the Epstein files. Photograph: Ken Cedeno/Reuters
Over the weekend, FBI director Kash Patel denied swirling resignation rumors over reported unhappiness at the justice department decision to close the book on Jeffrey Epstein after administration officials teased a big reveal earlier in the year.
In a Saturday social media post, the agency director said in a social media post at the weekend: “the conspiracy theories just aren’t true, never have been. It’s an honor to serve the President of the United States – and I’ll continue to do so for as long as he calls on me.”
Over the past week, Maga hardliners, including Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, former White House adviser Steve Bannon and – reportedly – FBI deputy director Dan Bongino, have been strongly critical of a joint decision by US attorney general Pam Bondi and the FBI to not release further information about Epstein held in government files, including a so-called client list.
And on Friday, NBC News reported that Bongino was considering stepping down from his post at the FBI after a “heated confrontation” with Bondi over the issue. CBS News heard that he then didn’t show up to work that day.
“Bongino is out-of-control furious,” the person who has spoken with the deputy FBI director said. “This destroyed his career. He’s threatening to quit and torch Pam unless she’s fired.”
Trump last night played down the resignation rumors, saying he had spoken to Bongino who sounded “terrific”.
But Maga influencer and far-right activist Laura Loomer had this prediction for Politico: “I don’t see how there can be a situation where Bongino can coexist with Blondi [Loomer’s derisive moniker for Bondi] as attorney general, and so I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a resignation from Bongino. Perhaps I’m wrong, but it would not shock me if Bongino resigns in the next week.”
Democrat to introduce legislation calling for Epstein files release
The Democrats are on it too. Later today in the House, representative Marc Veasey is introducing legislation calling for the release of the Epstein files.
Veasey told Politico:
I think [Trump’s] trying to protect some billionaire friend of his. That’s what he lives for more than anything else in the world: protecting billionaires. Look at what he did with the so-called ‘big, beautiful bill’.
A vote would not only be uncomfortable for House Republicans – it would also keep the story in the news when the president would prefer it to disappear. Trump will probably try to latch on to some other story to try to change the narrative today, so we’ll be looking out for that.
Politico also notes that “the growing number of Democrats making similar efforts on the Epstein files spans a wide breadth of the party’s membership, from New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Georgia senator Jon Ossoff; from relative backbenchers to members of the Senate leadership, like Hawaii senator Brian Schatz.”
With Trump’s headache not showing any signs of going away, Politico learned that “an ally supportive of the Trump DOJ’s handling of the Epstein case, has pitched senior White House officials on the idea of Bondi and deputy attorney general Todd Blanche doing an all-questions-addressed news conference in an attempt to exhaust the press and put the story to bed.”
Maga influencer and far-right activist Laura Loomer also told Politico on Sunday that “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 [Pam Bondi’s] hands, because I don’t think that she has been transparent or done a good job handling this issue”.
“When people voted for President Trump, releasing the Epstein files was something that was promised to the base,” Loomer said. “The base is unhappy, and I think that this issue isn’t going to go away.”
Trump's Maga base furious over justice department's handling of Epstein files
As we reported earlier, Donald Trump is facing a fast-growing a Maga rebellion over his administration’s handling of the Epstein files – the criminal investigation into convicted child sex offender and wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein.
For years, many in the Maga movement have alleged a huge government cover up to protect Epstein, which Trump and his allies – from vice-president JD Vance to FBI director Kash Patel – played up for political gain, claiming an incriminating client list that Epstein purportedly used to blackmail wealthy co-conspirators was being kept secret by the government.
Former conservative podcaster and now deputy FBI director Dan Bongino did the same, along with attorney general Pam Bondi, who in February told Fox News of the list: “It’s sitting on my desk right now to review.”
As my colleagues wrote last week: “Bondi in particular spent months hyping up the materials as being full of damaging details related to child porn and sex trafficking, creating anticipation among a core group of the president’s supporters.”
But last week, a justice department and FBI investigation found there was no secret client list to be released, and that Epstein died by suicide in federal custody in August 2019, which has also long been the subject of rightwing conspiracy theorists who believe he may have been killed before he could implicate famous associates.
Coming after Trump’s administration created so much anticipation that the alleged list would be publicly disclosed, per Politico: “Now? It’s a huge credibility problem. Vance, Patel, Bongino and Bondi – among others – effectively have to either acknowledge that they were not just wrong about the government covering up for Epstein, but actually making stuff up, or they come off like they’re part of a cover-up themselves.”
Indeed the findings have prompted rightwing influencers who are frequently in favor of Trump’s policies to suggest that the federal government is protecting a powerful cabal of pedophiles, with particular ire directed at Bondi who many in Maga world have demanded be fired.
UK prime minister Keir Starmer will meet Donald Trump when the president visits Scotland later this month.
A Downing Street spokesman said: “The White House has confirmed that president Trump will be making a private visit to Scotland later this month.
“Given he is visiting a private capacity, there will not be a formal bilateral but the prime minister is pleased to take up the president’s invite to meet during his stay.”
US tariffs of 30% on EU imports, announced over the weekend, will choke off investments and cause a deindustrialisation in the world’s biggest economy, the German machinery and equipment manufacturers association VDMA said on Monday.
“The renewed postponement prolongs the toxic uncertainty for companies on both sides of the Atlantic. This slows down investment and weakens economic growth in both the US and Europe,” VDMA managing director Thilo Brodtmann said in a statement.
Olivia Empson
A new Senate committee report on the attempted assassination of Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last year, described the events as a “cascade of preventable failures” and called for more severe disciplinary action to be taken with the Secret Service in the future.
In the 31-page, highly critical findings released on Sunday, the Senate homeland security and governmental affairs committee lamented the mishandling of communications around the rally and said Trump was denied extra security on the day.
“A 20-year-old gunman was able to evade detection by the country’s top protective agency for nearly 45 minutes,” the committee stated, adding that “not a single person has been fired”.
The publication of the report comes exactly a year after the attempted assassination of Trump, when he was wounded after a bullet grazed his ear on 13 July 2024. One rally-goer, Corey Comperatore, was killed before the shooter, a 20-year-old nursing-home worker from Pennsylvania named Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot dead by a Secret Service agent. Crooks scaled a building overlooking the rally and opened fire using an AR015-style rifle.
The image of Trump defiantly raising his fist in the immediate aftermath of the attack became a political touchstone, helping push Joe Biden out of the race and fuelling support around his presidency in a heightened, accelerated manner.
Dan Sabbagh
Donald Trump has indicated that the US will announce a plan to sell Patriot air defence systems and other weapons to Ukraine later on Monday, amid growing White House exasperation with Russia’s refusal to agree to a ceasefire.
The president told reporters on Sunday as he returned from the Club World Cup final that the US would “send them various pieces of very sophisticated military and they’re going to pay us 100% for them”.
“We will send them Patriots, which they desperately need,” Trump added, describing the impending announcement as “business for us”.
Though Trump did not spell out exactly who would fund the purchases, it is expected to involve European countries. Last week the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said Berlin was “ready to acquire” additional Patriot systems.
Trump said last week he would make a “major statement” on Ukraine on Monday. He has become frustrated with his lack of progress in persuading Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire and an end to the war.
On Sunday Trump reiterated that he was disappointed with the Russian president. “Putin really surprised a lot of people. He talks nice and then he bombs everybody in the evening,” he said, confirming the change in sentiment.
During the election campaign Trump said he could end the Ukraine war in 24 hours, and following his victory began a series of bilateral discussions with Putin in an effort to broker a ceasefire. But these failed to progress as Russia made maximalist territorial demands, while stepping up its bombing of Ukraine’s cities.
President Donald Trump said on Sunday that it would be a great thing if Fed chairman Jerome Powell stepped down.
“I hope he quits,” Trump told reporters on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland.
Alexander Abnos
US president Donald Trump was front and center for Chelsea’s trophy lift and was greeted by widespread boos at the Fifa Club World Cup final at a sold-out MetLife Stadium on Sunday in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Trump was booed while appearing on video boards during the playing of the national anthem before the match, and then later while walking out with Fifa president Gianni Infantino to present the competition’s trophy, individual awards and runners-up medals.
Later, Trump and Infantino jointly carried the Club World Cup trophy to the Chelsea team on the stage. Infantino moved out of frame of television cameras while Trump stayed put, finding himself squarely in focus as Chelsea captain Reece James lifted the trophy and his team-mates celebrated around him.
President Donald Trump and FIFA president Gianni Infantino celebrate with Chelsea FC during the awarding ceremony for the Club World Cup. Photograph: Xinhua/Shutterstock
Trump’s 30% tariffs would ‘practically prohibit’ EU-US trade, says Šefčovič
Jennifer Rankin
Donald Trump’s threat to impose 30% tariffs on European goods would “practically prohibit” transatlantic trade, the EU’s lead negotiator with the US has said.
Arriving for talks with European ministers in Brussels, Maroš Šefčovič, the EU trade commissioner, said a tariff of 30% or more would have a huge impact, making it “almost impossible to continue” current transatlantic trade, which is worth €4.4bn (£3.8bn) a day.
Expressing disappointment, he said his negotiating team thought they had been close to a deal. “The feeling on our side was that we are very close to an agreement,” as he said the two sides had been negotiating an agreement in principle – the outlines of a deal – for four weeks prior to Trump’s blunt announcement at the weekend.
The US president said on Saturday that EU imports would face a tariff of 30% from 1 August, denting European optimism that talks to secure a still painful 10% duty were almost finalised.
In response to Trump’s latest deadline, the EU decided to postpone retaliatory countertariffs on €21bn of US goods that had been due to kick in at midnight on Monday until 1 August.
Ministers will also discuss plans for a further round of countermeasures, targeting €72bn of US imports to the EU.
Trump says he spoke to FBI's Bongino amid Epstein uproar
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next few hours.
We begin with news that president Donald Trump said on Sunday he spoke to deputy FBI director Dan Bongino to try to calm an uproar over how the Justice Department handled the probe into the death of accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and his alleged clientele, Reuters reported.
Asked by reporters if Bongino remained in his position after reportedly pondering resigning, Trump said: “Oh I think so... I spoke to him today. Dan Bongino, very good guy. I’ve known him a long time. I’ve done his show many, many times. He sounded terrific, actually.”
Bongino represents a part of Trump‘s ‘Make America Great Again’ base of support that has long been suspicious of Epstein, whose 2019 death in federal custody has been ruled a suicide. In a joint memo released last Monday, the FBI and the Justice Department said there was no evidence to support a number of long-held conspiracy theories about Epstein’s death and his alleged clientele.
Conservative influencers from Laura Loomer to Elon Musk have criticized attorney general Pam Bondi and FBI director Kash Patel for their findings, which came months after Bondi pledged to reveal major revelations about Epstein, including “a lot of names” and “a lot of flight logs.”
US media, including Fox News and NBC News, have reported that Bongino has clashed with Bondi over the issue and was considering stepping down.
Patel and Bongino, a former conservative podcaster, both previously made statements before working at the FBI about a so-called client list and often suggested that the government was hiding information about Epstein from the American public.
Dan Bongino pictured last month in the Capitol Photograph: Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images
In other news:
King Charles has invited Donald Trump for an unprecedented second state visit in September, scheduling the trip for three days when parliament is not sitting and removing the possibility of the US president addressing parliament. The visit is a coup for the White House, with Trump becoming the first elected politician in modern history to be granted two state visits, after his earlier one in 2019.
However, the US president received a frostier reception when he made an appearance at the Club World Cup final in New Jersey on Sunday. Trump was booed and jeered by the crowd during the national anthem before the match and again while presenting the trophy to Chelsea alongside Fifa president Gianni Infantino.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has called on the EU to “defend European interests resolutely” after Trump threatened to impose 30% tariffs on nearly all imports from the EU. It came as the EU moved to de-escalate tensions after the blunt move by Trump on Saturday. The bloc declared a further pause on €21bn of retaliatory tariffs until 1 August, dovetailing with the US president’s new deal deadline.
Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, said on Sunday that Trump wants to have the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) “remade” instead of eradicated entirely. In a new interview on Sunday with NBC, Noem defended the Trump administration’s response to the deadly Texas floods that have killed at least 120 people, saying: “I think the president recognizes that Fema should not exist the way that it always has been. It needs to be redeployed in a new way, and that’s what we did during this response.”
Rosie O’Donnell has shrugged off a threat from Trump to revoke her US citizenship on the grounds that she is “a threat to humanity”. The New York-born actor and comedian said on Sunday that she was the latest in a long list of artists, activists and celebrities to be threatened by the US president.
A new Senate committee report on the attempted assassination of Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last year, described the events as a “cascade of preventable failures” and called for more severe disciplinary action to be taken with the Secret Service in the future. In the 31-page, highly critical findings released on Sunday, the Senate homeland security and governmental affairs committee lamented the mishandling of communications around the rally and said Trump was denied extra security on the day.
Trump said the US will send Patriot air defence systems to Ukraine to help it fight off Russian attacks amid a souring of his relations with Vladimir Putin.
Kevin Hassett, the White House economic adviser, said Trump has seen some trade deal offers and thinks they need to be better, adding that the president will proceed with threatened tariffs on Mexico and the EU if they don’t improve.
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