Trump says ‘credible' Epstein files should be released amid MAGA revolt
Trump said on Tuesday that US Attorney General Pam Bondi should disclose 'whatever she thinks is credible' about the government's investigations into Epstein as he sought to quash a growing backlash on the political right.
'She's handled it very well, and it's going to be up to her,' Trump, who last week encouraged supporters to move on from the case, told reporters at the White House in Washington, DC.
'Whatever she thinks is credible, she should release.'
Trump also claimed the so-called Epstein films were 'made up' by former US Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden and former FBI director James Comey, despite his administration's role in publicising their existence.
Trump later on Tuesday repeated his support for the release of 'credible' information, even as he expressed disbelief over the continuing fascination with the 'sordid' but 'boring' case.
'Credible information – let them give it,' he said. 'I would say anything that's credible, let them have it.'
Trump's Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement has been up in arms since the release of a law enforcement memo last week that concluded that Epstein died by suicide and there was no credible evidence that he possessed a 'client list' or blackmailed powerful figures.
Epstein, who died in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while facing sex trafficking charges, has for years been the source of lurid theories and speculation, including that he was murdered and used sexual blackmail to compromise powerful figures on behalf of intelligence agencies.
Theorising about Epstein has been particularly frenzied in MAGA circles, which campaigned for Trump's re-election in the belief he would expose the full extent of the late financier's crimes and those of his elite connections.
Since the release of the joint US Department of Justice and FBI memo contradicting the most popular theories about Epstein, prominent MAGA followers have accused the Trump administration of breaking its promises and joining a cover-up aimed at protecting Epstein's associates, possibly including the president himself.
'I want to make this very clear to those on the right, including the president himself, who are telling us to just drop the subject and move on,' conservative commentator Matt Walsh said on his podcast.
'We can't drop it. We can't move on.'
Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, on Tuesday became the most powerful Trump ally yet to add to his voice to calls for greater transparency.
'We should put everything out there and let the people decide,' Johnson said in an interview with conservative commentator Benny Johnson, adding that Bondi needed to 'come forward and explain it to everybody'.
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