Confronted over Epstein files, Trump and Bondi tell supporters to move on

President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi once suggested they would expose the hidden, potentially sinister truth about Jeffrey Epstein’s death in 2019. On Tuesday, they had a message to supporters incensed by the decision to close the case once and for all: Get over it.

“You still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?” Trump, visibly exasperated, asked a reporter at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the day after the Justice Department released a memo concluding that “no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted” in the investigation of Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender.

Bondi, the main target of critics on the right, added, “He committed suicide.”

But Epstein obsessives, who make up a small but influential cohort of Trump’s far-right political coalition, showed zero inclination to move on – quite the opposite, in fact. They largely spared Trump, but have turned with a vengeance on Bondi; FBI Director Kash Patel; and his top deputy, Dan Bongino, for failing to come up with anything new or salacious in a case that multiple investigations have long deemed a dead end.

“She needs to resign,” wrote Laura Loomer, a Trump ally who has suggested, without evidence, that the department had suppressed evidence that Epstein was murdered. “The American people and MAGA base will not tolerate being lied to.”

Elon Musk, who has had a falling-out with Trump, has criticized the Justice Department and the president himself over the Epstein case. “How can people be expected to have faith in Trump if he won’t release the Epstein files?” Musk posted on social media on Tuesday afternoon.

There are no indications that Trump is considering replacing Bondi or anyone else over the investigation, which has occupied a remarkable amount of government time and political attention. But he clearly wants it behind him and was visibly agitated to be asked questions about it during the meeting, which was intended to celebrate recent foreign policy and legislative victories and to discuss the deadly floods in Texas.

That the attorney general was a central target of the right was not unexpected. In February, Bondi – eager to take on a high-profile task earlier in her tenure – told Fox News that the Epstein “client list” was sitting on her desk, giving hope to right-wing figures that more disclosures were imminent. But as weeks passed, little new information was released and frustration mounted.

Over the past few months, Bondi has privately expressed concerns that her early public missteps on the Epstein files will hurt her standing with the White House. And there are concerns among some of Bondi’s allies inside and outside the Justice Department that the withering and relentless criticism she is facing will ultimately take its toll – even if she has proved willing to serve as a political shield for the president on the case.

In recent months, dozens of FBI agents, along with prosecutors typically assigned to national security investigations, were diverted to examine case files and video for evidence.

Prominent right-wing podcasters and influencers flatly rejected the Trump administration’s claim this week that Epstein did not keep a “sex trafficking” client list and that there was no incriminating evidence of additional perpetrators involved in Epstein’s sexual crimes.

Steve Bannon, a former Trump adviser, lashed out against federal law enforcement agencies, insisting, “We have to take these apparatuses down.”

Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host, called the memo a “cover-up” after it was released.

“The president promised to reveal the truth about this. Pam Bondi, as you said, went on television and said, ‘We have the truth, we’re going to give it to you,’ ” Carlson told the guest on his podcast Tuesday. “I think this is a big deal.”

Fox News even joined the fray, broadcasting a banner during Jesse Watters’ prime-time show that blared, “WE NEED ANSWERS ON EPSTEIN.”

The outrage amounted to some of the most pointed criticism to date against Trump’s administration from a flank of right-wing media that is normally deeply loyal to the president. It underscored the challenges facing his officials as they navigate leading federal agencies they had once targeted with criticism and conspiracy theories.

Until February, Bongino, the deputy FBI director, was a podcaster who had railed against the FBI for covering up investigations and crimes, including around Epstein. Since joining the FBI, though, he has tried to downplay the case, rejecting a conspiracy theory that Epstein was murdered while in custody.

Now, his livestreaming slot is filled by Vince Coglianese, who criticized the memo this week.

“The whole internet’s all up in arms about this, and rightfully so,” he said. “Because you just want crystal-clear answers.”

Some influencers shifted blame to the Biden administration, asserting, without proof that anything nefarious occurred, that it had four years in power to get rid of evidence that could have implicated others. (Epstein was arrested and charged during Trump’s first term.)

“A lot of the evidence, the tapes, etc., was destroyed and erased a long time ago,” claimed Buck Sexton, the co-host of “The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton” show.

Bondi, addressing criticism of her actions at the Cabinet meeting, said Tuesday that the department had exhausted every investigative option. She also disputed the notion, pushed by some critics, that she was covering up the truth by refusing to release thousands of hours of videotapes analyzed by investigators.

“They turned out to be child porn downloaded by that disgusting Jeffrey Epstein,” Bondi said. “Never going to see the light of day.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.