Senate Republicans are scrambling to steer clear of the controversy exploding within their MAGA-aligned party’s base over allegations that the Trump administration is hiding information related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his “clients.”
President Trump is facing what may be the biggest backlash he’s ever encountered from usually loyal activists, such as former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and prominent conservative activist Laura Loomer.
Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel are coming under tremendous pressure from MAGA activists to provide more information about the people who may have been involved in Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking activities, even though the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI concluded in a memo that there is no “incriminating ‘client list.’”
Republican lawmakers don’t want to go near the Epstein controversy that divides their base.
They already have their hands full responding to political attacks from Democrats on Trump’s tariff policies and on the Medicaid spending cuts they passed into law this month, along with trillions of dollars in tax relief and new spending on border security and defense.
“I’ll leave that up to DOJ and to the FBI. I think that’s in their purview. I think the president’s expressed his views on it and so I’ll just leave it at that,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters Monday.
Trump pushed back on some of his most loyal supporters on Saturday and defended Bondi after MAGA-aligned activists took shots at her handling of the Epstein case and related files at a student action summit hosted by the activist group Turning Point USA in Tampa this weekend.
“For years, it’s Epstein, over and over again,” Trump posted on Truth Social, implying that Democrats have pushed the clamor of Epstein’s files.
“Why are we giving publicity to Files written by Obama, Crooked Hillary, Comey, Brennan, and the Losers and Criminals of the Biden administration,” he wrote, referring to former Presidents Obama and Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Monday that Bondi has done enough to provide transparency on what government investigators know about Epstein and his illicit activities.
Asked if Bondi has been forthcoming enough with information, Grassley told The Hill: “What I know now, yes.”
“With anything in government, I always urge the greatest of transparency,” he said. “I’m not saying they’re coming up short there but that’s just a good principle of government as far as I’m concerned.”
Asked if the Justice Department needs to provide more information about Epstein-related documents, Grassley said: “I think I’ve said all I should say.”
Conservative activists have zeroed in on Bondi’s statement in February implying that the Epstein files were “sitting on her desk.”
The joint Justice Department-FBI memo stated that much of the Epstein-related material is “subject to court-ordered sealing” and “only a fraction of this material would have been aired publicly had Epstein gone to trial.”
The Justice Department and FBI said there was “no credible evidence” that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions.
And the memo dismissed theories that Epstein was murdered in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City on Aug. 10, 2019, stating the finding that he committed suicide was supported by video footage.
GOP lawmakers are ready to accept the administration’s explanation of its handling of the issue, despite the uproar from the party’s base.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Senate Intelligence Committee, said he’s leaving the handling of all Epstein-related matters to Trump.
Cornyn and other Republicans don’t seem at all inclined to endorse activists’ calls for Bondi to appoint a special counsel to investigate the alleged Epstein files.
“I trust the president to handle it the way he deems appropriate,” Cornyn said Monday.
Trump has expressed his irritation with the relentless focus of some conservative social media influencers and activists on the possibility of a cover-up to protect wealthy and powerful figures who consorted with Epstein and the underage women he allegedly trafficked.
The president expressed his disgust with the topic when a reporter asked him about Epstein at a July 8 Cabinet meeting.
“Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?” Trump asked, appearing annoyed by the question.
“This guy’s been talked about for years,” he said. “We have Texas, we have this, we have all of the things. And are people still talking about this guy, this creep? That is unbelievable.”
But Republican strategists are starting to acknowledge that dismissing the controversy and moving on to new topics isn’t working for Trump, at least at the moment.
“I think this administration is definitely going to have some second thoughts about their strategy. Ultimately, they will have to put out more information. I just don’t see how the current strategy is sustainable to say everything’s out there and there are other issues that are more important. That’s not a winning message and it’s not a message that’s going to go over well,” said Brian Darling, a Republican strategist and former Senate aide.
“I think the strategy has to change by the administration,” he added.
Loomer, a prominent activist who seems to have Trump’s ear on key executive-branch appointments, warned in a Saturday post on the social platform X that the “lack of results at the DOJ and lack of transparency” could “cost the GOP House and Senate seats.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” she warned.
A Trump-aligned strategist who requested anonymity said that Trump’s team would likely offer a “half-measure” concession to prominent conservative influencers and activists in an attempt to tamp down the controversy.
“Various portions of the MAGA base kind of feel like this is a key item. It’s really MAGA-specific. It’s something that’s being battled over more in the conservative media,” the strategist said. “I think they’re going to try to release as little as possible because there are all sorts of issues with this stuff, legally.”
“It’s one of the rare things that I’ve seen where at least as of right now where the president takes a different position and MAGA doesn’t fall right into line immediately. There’s been a little pushback. Is it going to cost seats? I don’t know,” the source added.
“Bondi overpromised and underdelivered. It’s an unforced error,” the strategist argued.
Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, told conservative influencer Benny Johnson in an interview Monday that the administration would release more information related to Epstein’s alleged crimes.
“There needs to be more transparency. I think that will happen. I know this is important to the president. He is frustrated,” Trump told Johnson.
“He is going to want to set things right. I believe there will be more coming and anything they are able to release they will try to get out. They hear it and understand it,” she added.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who has been outspoken about shedding more light on Epstein’s criminal activities, said last week that she hoped to “uncover” more information.
“For years, I have fought to expose the business associates of Jeffrey Epstein and those who were bankrolling his trafficking ring,” she said in a social media post last week after the Justice Department and FBI released their joint memo.
“Human trafficking generates more than $150 billion a year in profits, and I remain committed to breaking apart the human trafficking rings that ensnare innocent victims in modern-day slavery. I’m hopeful we can still uncover this information from the financial records to assist law enforcement in locking up vile criminals,” she said.
