Behind the Story: The Epstein files and trouble for Trump

RTÉ News​

a day ago

The recent decision by the US Department of Justice and FBI to issue a memo concluding there was no evidence of a client list and that Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide has resulted in some of President Trump's most ardent supporters being very angry with him.
Caitríona Perry, BBC News Chief Presenter and host of The President's Path podcast, told Behind the Story some of the loudest voices calling for the publication of the files have gone quiet since they entered the White House.
"[FBI director and deputy director] Kash Patel and Dan Bongino were two of the biggest cheerleaders for publishing the Epstein files before they all got into office," she explained.
"[Bongino] is now in the administration and is now saying, 'No, there's nothing to see here and you have everything that you've seen'.
"That's led to a sort of other conspiracy theory of, 'Well what are they covering up now? Is the President involved here? What have they seen?'"
Caitríona said this scenario opens itself up to a number of options.
"They've either come into power, and they've seen these files and realised there is no cover up and there is no hoax and truly there is nothing to see here," she said.
"Option two is they've seen the files and, there is something to cover up here and 'we better cover it up because it affects all of us'.
"Or the other option is they never believed what they were pedalling in the first place and that they were using it to rile up their base - part of all that heat that we saw in the campaign last year.
"Obviously none of those three options are very good for any of the people involved."
Some of President Trump's supporters have demanded the release of more information on Epstein, causing a fracture within his Republican support base.
Mr Trump has pushed back, telling reporters in the Oval Office this week: "It's all been a big hoax."
"All the podcasters, the influencers, the high-profile supporters [are] really not satisfied with what they're hearing from the President, what they're hearing from the Attorney General, the FBI director and the deputy director," Caitríona said.
"President Trump has kind of given in a little bit to this pressure… He's asked the Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent grand jury testimony relating to this, subject to court approval."
Caitríona said the wording in itself is interesting.
"He's saying 'produce', he's not saying publish: what does he mean by that?
"Is it that he wants her to give him these files and then he will say, 'I've looked at them and there's nothing to see there folks, you can take my word for it'.
"Until now he's been asking his supporters to take the word of Pam Bondi and to take the word of Kash Patel for this."
You can listen to Behind the Story which is available on the RTÉ Radio Player.