White House monitors coverage of Epstein controversy and can't make it disappear

CNN

5 days ago

President Donald Trump has begged his base to stop thinking about Jeffrey Epstein. But 25 days after his Justice Department declared it had nothing more to say on the convicted sex offender, the drumbeat for action continues.
Some officials acknowledge, at least privately, that the administration will have to release more information on Epstein in an attempt to quiet accusations of a coverup.
Administration officials told CNN that they believe the best antidote to the intense public interest in Epstein is time. But they also acknowledge that without the release of more tangible details, the attention may never fully subside.
'Either we release more documents and it's a confirmation of suspicions, or there is some gap between what people think and what we actually have,' a White House official said. 'And you have to address it directly.'
The White House has been intensely monitoring cable news and media coverage of the controversy, sources said.
Since Attorney General Pam Bondi sparked public uproar by declaring that Epstein's so-called 'client list' doesn't exist, the administration has scrambled to quell the outrage by moving to interview Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell and release sealed grand jury transcripts related to both her and Epstein's criminal cases.
Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking and is likely one of the only living people who could shed more light on the extent of Epstein's crimes, was moved from her Florida prison to a lower-security facility in Texas on Friday. The Justice Department has not said why Maxwell was transferred.
Nor has Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said anything about his two days of closed-door meetings with Maxwell, aside from promising in a statement that the DOJ would share more information about what they learned 'at the appropriate time.'
Trump has not been accused of legal wrongdoing related to Epstein. The White House acknowledged but did not provide a response to a request for comment on this story.
The story's staying power has partly been an issue of the president's own making.
Trump is clearly frustrated by reporters who have him asked Epstein-related questions, but the small snippets of responses he does give — such as saying this week that he fell out with Epstein after the financier 'stole' a young woman, Virginia Giuffre, from working at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort — only serve to reignite the public interest and sow further questions about what Trump knew about Epstein and when.
That statement shocked the family of Giuffre, who died by suicide in April. 'She wasn't stolen, she was preyed upon at his property, at President Trump's property,' Giuffre's brother Sky Roberts told CNN.
A Trump administration official acknowledged the president's statements have been unhelpful in tamping down the Epstein-related furor but added they are just manifestations of his intense anger about the situation.
The posture within the administration, officials said, has been to reassure the public that it is still committed to sharing more information that has been collected and reviewed by the Justice Department.
But that could present another dilemma for the administration: any document dump would likely require extensive redactions to protect the identities of children who were victims of Epstein's crimes. And pages full of black ink may serve only to raise the specter of a coverup, administration officials said.
The administration is also being careful not to repeat history by overpromising, which would further upset the many high-profile figures in the president's base who have expressed their frustration over the issue.
'The frenzy and criticism we saw has abated somewhat since the first two weeks. That's in large part thanks to the administration making clear this isn't cased closed like they initially said,' a person close to Trump told CNN.
'But the idea that this can be buried, or will go away thanks to some bigger news story, is a fantasy,' this person said. 'Even if a news story sucks up the oxygen for a time, it will pop up again. It won't die until people get some real answers.'
Friday was a prime example of the issue popping back up with Maxwell's surprise transfer. And there will be more court filings next week.
In theory, August could bring some relief to an aspect of the Epstein news cycle with Congress on recess for the month, limiting actions from Democrats to force Republicans to take a public stand on the matter.
And an attempt by House Republicans to interview Maxwell has failed for now. Maxwell made a list of demands, including requesting immunity and to be provided with a list of questions in advance. The House Oversight Committee on Friday rejected those demands. It did agree, however, to delay any deposition until after the Supreme Court weighs her pending appeal, which won't happen until the end of September.
Meanwhile, while officials believe Trump's directive to Bondi to move to unseal grand jury transcripts related to the investigations of Epstein and Maxwell, as well as the Justice Department's interview of Maxwell in prison, are steps in the right direction, multiple people inside and outside of the administration maintain there's still recognition that the fury around Epstein will not abide until more substantial material is released.
The limits of that information are well-established. For instance, the grand jury transcripts the Justice Department is asking to unseal from its investigation include testimony from only two witnesses, both law enforcement officials, according to a DOJ memo submitted this week.
In an order Thursday evening, federal Judge Richard Berman asked for more information from the government regarding their motion to unseal grand jury transcripts from Epstein's case. Berman made several requests, including verifying the dates of all grand jury presentations in the case, providing exhibits shown to grand jurors and stating whether the government wants exhibits unsealed in addition to transcripts.
Those answers are due Monday.
Tuesday, meanwhile, is the deadline for Epstein's victims and Maxwell to respond to the DOJ's request to release grand jury files. The judge then has pledged to rule quickly.
In the White House's version of a perfect world, the American people would be celebrating Trump's trade war successes, the record-low number of migrants crossing the southern border or the renewal of a society that is being shaped to the president's expansive vision.
That may happen, but the Epstein story will remain no matter what.
'There is an acknowledgement that this isn't just going to go away,' one White House official told CNN.
CNN's Annie Grayer and Casey Gannon contributed to this report.