Trump ‘considering lifting Epstein document redactions'
The president is facing the biggest internal rebellion of his premiership after the Department of Justice last week concluded the disgraced financier had no 'client list' and died by suicide, not murder, in a Manhattan prison cell in 2019.
The decision has sparked fury among Maga loyalists, who have called for Pam Bondi, Mr Trump's attorney general, to resign over her mishandling of the case.
As the White House scrambles to contain the row, Mr Trump is said to be weighing up removing redactions to previously released documents related to the deceased sex offender in a bid to placate his Maga supporters, sources close to the administration told Axios.
Other plans said to be under consideration include appointing a special counsel or investigative team to review the case, and petitioning courts to unseal records related to Epstein that the administration cannot.
Ms Bondi, Kash Patel, the FBI director, and Dan Bongino, the bureau's deputy director, have been heavily criticised by Trump supporters for failing to uncover a broader conspiracy relating to Epstein.
Conservative influencers from Megyn Kelly to Tucker Carlson have called for Ms Bondi to resign over her failure to deliver, after she claimed in February that Epstein's client list was 'sitting on my desk'.
The White House has since claimed she was actually referencing the 'entirety of all of the paperwork and relation to Jeffrey Epstein'.
Kelly, a former Fox News host, accused Bondi of 'lying' and said she had 'embarrassed the president'.
'You either believe that Pam Bondi was telling the truth then, or that she's telling the truth now — but both cannot be true,' she told Maga supporters at a conservative student summit.
Carlson, another former Fox anchor, told NBC that Ms Bondi had 'made a bunch of ludicrous claims…that she couldn't back up', triggering the current crisis. The podcast host has also raised questions over whether Epstein was running a blackmail operation on behalf of Israeli intelligence.
The allegations were refuted by Naftali Bennet, the former Israeli prime minister, who dismissed Carlson's claims as 'categorically and totally false' on X and accused the TV personality of spreading a 'vicious wave of slander and lies'.
Other influential Maga voices to hit out at Mr Trump's cabinet include Laura Loomer, a conservative firebrand, and Elon Musk, the president's ally-turned-nemesis, who wrote on X: 'Just release the files as promised.'
Speaking to Politico, Ms Loomer called for a special counsel to carry out an independent investigation of the handling of the Epstein files and blamed Ms Bondi for a lack of transparency.
Pam Bondi doing a 'fantastic job'
Mr Trump took to social media on Saturday to back his attorney general and railed against 'radical Left lunatics' calling for the release of the Epstein files.
'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,' the president wrote on Truth Social.
He also stood next to Ms Bondi at the Club World Cup final on Sunday in a physical display of solidarity with his attorney general.
Mr Trump's intervention attempted to draw a line under the debate that has engulfed his support base for the past week, but administration insiders have warned that the problem is not going away any time soon.
'I love POTUS, but I think he's delusional about how awful this looks,' an adviser told Axios.
Mr Patel and Mr Bongino have also faced criticism after claiming a video taken from outside Epstein's cell proved that no one had entered, and that he therefore took his own life.
The Justice Department and FBI released the 11-hour video last week in an effort to dispel rumours that the sex offender was murdered, but Maga hardliners noticed time stamps on the video skipped from 11.58pm to midnight, leading some to suspect foul play had taken place during what has been called the 'missing minute'.
Mr Bongino failed to show up for work on Friday following a heated White House row with Ms Bondi over mishandling of information related to Epstein, sparking rumours that the FBI deputy director had resigned.
With Mr Bongino in the spotlight, rumours also swirled that Mr Patel might follow him out the door, prompting the president to have a 'a frank conversation' with his FBI director, a source familiar with the discussion told Axios.
JD Vance, the vice-president, also played peacemaker and spoke repeatedly with the FBI chiefs to contain the fallout, sources told the news outlet.
Mr Patel subsequently released a statement on X, saying that he was staying in post and that the administration expects Mr Bongino to return to work.
Asked on Saturday if Mr Bongino remained in position, Mr 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.'
'Trump lives to protect billionaires'
Seizing on disarray among Mr Trump's supporters, House Democrats are planning to bring forward legislation that would force Ms Bondi to 'release and publish' all records related to the paedophile financier.
The proposals are unlikely to reach the House floor, but are designed to tie a narrative of 'corruption and cronyism' around Mr Trump to a broader critique of his policy priorities.
'I think he's trying to protect some billionaire friend of his,' Marc Veasey, who is introducing one of the pieces of legislation on Monday, told Politico. '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'.'
Scrutiny is likely to only increase after Ghislaine Maxwell, the only person in jail for crimes related to the paedophile financier, offered to speak about the Epstein files before Congress.
'Despite the rumours, Ghislaine was never offered any kind of plea deal. She would be more than happy to sit before Congress and tell her story,' a source close to Maxwell told The Daily Mail.
'No-one from the government has ever asked her to share what she knows. She remains the only person to be jailed in connection to Epstein and she would welcome the chance to tell the American public the truth.'
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