Trump tells MAGA base to stop calling for Epstein list, says ‘nobody cares' about sex offender's death
Trump's Department of Justice and the FBI said in a memo made public last week there was no evidence that the disgraced financier kept a 'client list' or was blackmailing powerful figures.
They also dismissed the claim that Epstein was murdered in jail, confirming his death by suicide at a New York prison in 2019, and said they would not be releasing any more information on the probe.
The move was met with incredulity by some on the US far-right — many of whom have backed Trump for years — and strident criticism of Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel.
'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!' Trump said Saturday in a lengthy post on his Truth Social platform.
'We're on one Team, MAGA, and I don't like what's happening. We have a PERFECT Administration, THE TALK OF THE WORLD, and 'selfish people' are trying to hurt it, all over a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein,' he added, referring to his 'Make America Great Again' movement.
Many among the MAGA faithful have long contended that so-called 'Deep State' actors were hiding information on Epstein's elite associates.
'Next the DOJ will say 'Actually, Jeffrey Epstein never even existed,'' furious pro-Trump conspiracy theorist Alex Jones tweeted after last week's move. 'This is over the top sickening.'
Far-right influencer Laura Loomer called for Trump to fire Bondi over the issue, labelling her 'an embarrassment.'
But on Saturday, Trump came to the defence of his attorney general, suggesting that the so-called 'Epstein Files' were a hoax perpetrated by the Democratic Party for political gain, without specifying what benefits they hoped to attain.
On Saturday, Trump struck an exasperated tone in his admonishment of his supporters.
'For years, it's Epstein, over and over again,' he said. 'Let's...not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about.'
The US president called for Patel and Bondi to instead focus on what he terms 'The Rigged and Stolen Election of 2020,' which Trump lost to Joe Biden.
The Republican has repeatedly perpetuated unfounded conspiracy theories about his loss being due to fraud.
He called for the FBI to be allowed to focus on that investigation 'instead of spending month after month looking at nothing but the same old, Radical Left inspired Documents on Jeffrey Epstein. LET PAM BONDI DO HER JOB - SHE'S GREAT!'
Trump, who appears in at least one decades-old video alongside Epstein at a party, has denied allegations that he was named in the files or had any direct connection to the financier.
'The conspiracy theories just aren't true, never have been,' said FBI Director Patel on Saturday, hours before Trump's social media post.
Not everyone, however, seemed to be on the same page.
US media reported that Dan Bongino — an influential right-wing podcast host whom Trump appointed FBI deputy director — had threatened to resign over the administration's handling of the issue. — AFP
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The Star
11 hours ago
- The Star
Trump, White House race to stem Epstein conspiracy fallout
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -For years, President Donald Trump and his Republican allies benefited from conspiracy theories that fueled the conservative MAGA movement and targeted his political enemies. Now the persisting furor over files related to accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein has forced Trump into an unfamiliar role: trying to shut a conspiracy theory down. Epstein, a wealthy financier and convicted sex offender, was facing federal charges of sex-trafficking minors when he died by suicide in jail in 2019. He had pleaded not guilty, and the case was dismissed after his death. The saga burst back into the news last week after the Trump administration reversed course on its pledge to release documents it had suggested would reveal major revelations about Epstein and his alleged clientele. That reversal has enraged some of Trump's most loyal followers. In an effort to contain the fallout, Trump and White House officials are weighing a range of options including unsealing new documents, appointing a special prosecutor and drafting executive actions on issues such as pedophilia, according to two White House sources with knowledge of the matter. Trump and senior aides have also reached out to key MAGA-aligned influencers, urging them to dial down their criticism of the administration's handling of the Epstein investigation and shift focus to broader priorities for the America First movement, one source said. The backlash over the Epstein case has laid bare tensions inside Trump's coalition and is testing one of Trump's most enduring political strengths: his ability to command loyalty and control the narrative across the right. The outcry comes amid discontent among parts of Trump's base over the U.S. strikes on Iran, continued involvement in Ukraine and any hint ofbacksliding on the administration's hardline immigration promises. The two sources said the intra-party friction was damaging to the coalition and that the White House was actively trying to restore unity, though they did not expect the Epstein controversy to dent Trump's core support. Many conservative influencers and hard-right media figures remain unconvinced by a Justice Department memo last week that concluded there was "no incriminating client list" or any evidence that Epstein may have blackmailed prominent people. The review also confirmed prior findings by the FBI that concluded that Epstein killed himself in his jail cell while awaiting trial, and that his death was not the result of a criminal act such as murder. Trump knew Epstein socially in the 1990s and early 2000s. During the 2021 trial of Epstein's associate Ghislaine Maxwell, the financier's longtime pilot, Lawrence Visoski, testified that Trump flew on Epstein's private plane multiple times. Trump has denied ever being on the plane and has not been accused of any wrongdoing. That history now complicates Trump's response, as he works to reassure a base steeped in long-running suspicions about Epstein and his connection to influential figures. TRUMP BACKS BONDI Trump has defended Attorney General Pam Bondi against calls for her firing by some MAGA personalities. He has urged his supporters to move on from the Epstein saga. "I don't understand why the Jeffrey Epstein case is of interest to anybody," Trump told reporters on Tuesday. "It's pretty boring stuff. It's sordid, but it's boring, and I don't understand why it keeps going." Both White House sources said there were mistakes in how information about the Epstein files was shared with pro-Trump influencers, especially by Bondi, who had previously implied that a list of Epstein's clients existed. The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment, and Bondi did not answer questions on Tuesday about Trump's comments on the Epstein files at a press conference. When asked if she expected to keep her job, she said, "I am going to be here for as long as the president wants me here - and I believe he's made that crystal clear." In a statement on Tuesday, the White House said Trump's law-and-order team remains focused on "Making America Safe Again" and "restoring the integrity of our criminal justice system." While some prominent voices outside the administration are falling back in line, others are not. Charlie Kirk, a key MAGA influencer who had amplified doubts about the Epstein probe, abruptly reversed course after a call with Trump, one of the sources said. On Monday, Kirk posted on social-media platform X: "I'm done talking about Epstein. I'm gonna trust my friends in the government." Trump's call for critics to back off is not landing everywhere. Podcast hosts including Joe Rogan, Theo Von and Tim Dillon, whose large audiences are not necessarily pro-Trump but broadly anti-establishment and helped propel his election victory, are unlikely to let up, according to Angelo Carusone, president of the progressive nonprofit watchdog group Media Matters for America. "Trump seems very disconnected from the zeitgeist that put him into power in the first place," Carusone said. Some of Trump's staunchest political allies also are keeping the pressure on. House Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson, called on Tuesday for the Justice Department to release more Epstein documents. Representative Lauren Boebert, a hardline MAGA supporter, made her own demand on X: "We deserve the truth about the Epstein files. I'm ready for a Special Counsel to handle this." (Reporting by Nandita Bose in WashingtonAdditional reporting by Sarah N. LynchEditing by Colleen Jenkins and Matthew Lewis)
Malay Mail
11 hours ago
- Malay Mail
Trump's ostensible five conditions for visiting Malaysia in October 2025 — Phar Kim Beng
JULY 16 — If diplomacy is akin to dexterous manoeuvres, then President Donald J. Trump is both the creative director and the post-modern impresario. One who demands the stage be set before he even enters the theatre that is Asean and East Asian. With the Asean and East Asian Summits scheduled for October 25 to 26 in Kuala Lumpur, speculation is mounting: will Trump show up? The answer, it seems, depends entirely on whether Asean is prepared to meet what are now widely viewed as Trump's ostensible five conditions. These demands are not just about North Korea; they reflect Trump's worldview — coercive, hierarchical, and intensely performative. One of Trump's key expectations is that Asean formally designates North Korea as a serious regional and strategic threat. He is no longer content with Asean's customary diplomatic expressions of concern. asean is too staid. He wants the language sharpened, the tone unequivocal, and the verdict clear: the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is not just a problem — it is the problem. Such a public rebuke would send a powerful message to both Pyongyang and Moscow. For Trump, this would be a strategic framing victory, reinforcing his belief that leadership means forcing clarity into ambiguity, even at the expense of consensus. Another precondition is that Asean aligns itself with US efforts to restore the relevance of the International Atomic Energy Agency in its dealings with North Korea. In a self-serving manner, Trump wants to resuscitate the IAEA's investigative clout—not in Vienna or Geneva, but in the Korean Peninsula, through Asean and East Asian Summit. Russia is, after all, a member of East Asian Summit too. As is the US. In Trump's second term, multilateralism is welcomed only when it operates under American primacy. Here, Asean is expected to echo Washington's call for full, verifiable inspections, even if it risks alienating member states who prefer the status quo of quiet diplomacy. At the heart of Trump's nuclear agenda is a warning he believes Chairman Kim Jong Un must understand that deeply buried nuclear facilities in North Korea are not beyond reach. Iran has had a foretaste of American power when in the words of Trump, "Iran nuclear facilities were obliterated." Although doubts linger if the bunker buster bombs had indeed got the job done at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan in Iran, this does not prevent Trump from wanting to deliver the same message to Chairman Kim Jong Un via ASEAN and East Asian Summit. The United States wants to reinforce the image that it continues to possess Bunker Buster Bombs capable of penetrating fortified subterranean sites. Hence, North Korea is now in the sight of Trump. Asean and East Asian Summit have to up its ante to match Trump. If diplomacy is akin to dexterous manoeuvres, then President Donald J. Trump is both the creative director and the post-modern impresario. — Reuters pic Trump views the successful prevention of open war between Israel and Iran during his second term as evidence of his coercive deterrence strategy. He does not mind showing this brand of diplomacy to North Korea via Asean and East Asian Summit. He expects Kim Jong-un to comprehend the credibility of that deterrent. In turn, Chairman Kim is likely to push back with his own narrative: that unlike Iran, which has been portrayed as a nuclear threshold or breakout state, North Korea is already a full-fledged nuclear weapons state. He will emphasise that its deterrent is real, deliverable, and not easily dismantled. The contrast with Iran — whose nuclear programme has suffered setbacks through sabotage, sanctions, and cyber interference — will form the core of North Korea's argument that it cannot and will not be treated the same. Yet Trump's expectations go beyond military strategy. He is demanding that Asean exert influence to halt North Korea's covert support for Russia's war in Ukraine. This condition stretches Asean's diplomatic imagination. For a regional bloc that prefers balancing over band wagoning, the idea of confronting Pyongyang over its links to Moscow's artillery logistics is both unprecedented and uncomfortable. Still, Trump insists that this war, fought in Europe, has reverberations in Asia — and that Asean's silence would equate to complicity. Equally important to Trump is his desire for a diplomatic spectacle: a sidebar meeting with Chairman Kim Jong-un in Kuala Lumpur; provided the latter is willing to come to Kuala Lumpur as he once did to Singapore and Hanoi. Trump views such encounters not merely as dialogues but as geopolitical theatre, validating his theory of leader-to-leader deal-making; even if they failed. The key is Trump's muscular foreign policy to match North Korea's Sparta-like approach. Kuala Lumpur or otherwise, the setting is less important than the optics. Trump believes that in bypassing conventional diplomatic channels, breakthroughs become possible. Asean's role here is to act as discreet facilitator, a stagehand behind the curtain. But even in facilitating such a meeting, Asean risks becoming complicit in a heavily personalized diplomacy that often sidelines collective norms. Especially when Malaysia is the Chief Coordinator of Asean China relations 2025. Perhaps most controversially, Trump expects Asean to ensure that its Northeast Asian partners, namely Japan and South Korea, refrain from using the summit to criticize his escalating tariff regimes. In Trump's view, the East Asia Summit is no place for complaints about American protectionism. He wants a disciplined forum — one that does not devolve into lectures on economic multilateralism. For Asean, this means managing not only its own internal cohesion but the external optics of alliance politics. The price of Trump's presence may well be the silencing of dissent, at least in public view. The art of the possible, or the price of admission? Trump's ostensible five conditions are not unachievable — but meeting all of them would require Asean to surrender elements of its foundational ethos. Non-alignment, non-interference, and regional consensus may all be strained under the weight of Trump's coercive choreography. Still, this moment also reveals how Trump views Asean: not as an equal partner in shaping global affairs, but as a pliable platform for amplifying his strategic ambitions. The stakes are not just about Trump's appearance in Kuala Lumpur, but whether Asean can uphold its role as a convenor of competing powers without becoming a stage for their rivalry. If diplomacy is truly about creative manoeuvring, then Asean's greatest test now lies not in managing Trump — but in ensuring it doesn't lose itself while doing so. * Phar Kim Beng is a professor of Asean Studies and director of the Institute of Internationalization and Asean Studies at the International Islamic University of Malaysia ** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
Malaysia Sun
11 hours ago
- Malaysia Sun
EU suspends retaliation as Trump's tariff deadline looms
BRUSSELS, Belgium: The European Union has delayed retaliatory tariffs on American goods in a final push to reach a trade agreement with the Trump administration before an August 1 deadline, EU officials confirmed. The bloc had been set to impose countermeasures at midnight Brussels time on Monday, but opted to suspend them after President Donald Trump announced plans to raise tariffs to 30 percent on imports from the EU and Mexico starting next month. "This is now the time for negotiations," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. "We have always been clear that we prefer a negotiated solution." She added that if talks fail, the EU would still be "fully prepared" to implement its planned countermeasures. Trump's letter to EU officials, which cited the U.S. trade deficit as a national security threat, has added urgency to talks. The EU negotiates trade deals on behalf of all 27 member states and is the U.S.'s largest trading partner. Europe's biggest exports to the U.S. include cars, pharmaceuticals, aircraft, chemicals, and wine. Any tariffs on these products could affect companies across both continents and create ripple effects throughout the global economy. Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani is expected in Washington on Monday for meetings with U.S. officials and members of Congress. Tajani's office said he emphasised the need to "negotiate with one's head held high" in recent conversations with EU allies. Trump adviser Kevin Hassett said the president was dissatisfied with current trade drafts and wanted "better" deals. "To basically put a line in the sand, he sent these letters out," Hassett told ABC News. EU trade ministers will meet on Monday to coordinate their approach. Von der Leyen also cited the need to diversify trade partners, announcing closer ties with Indonesia during a press conference in Brussels.
