Latest news with #EpsteinInvestigation
Daily Mail
20 hours ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
MAGA mutiny takes intriguing twist after FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino threatened to quit over Epstein files
The Deputy Director of the FBI has returned to work days after he threatened to quit over the botched handling of the Epstein investigation. Dan Bongino, a longtime leading proponent of theories about Jeffrey Epstein 's client list, failed to show up to work on Friday after Attorney General Pam Bondi and President Donald Trump assured the public no such list exists. At the time it was reported he had threatened to resign over the botched handling of the investigation, which has sparked mutiny within the MAGA ranks and turned some of Trump's most loyal soldiers against him. But Bongino, a podcaster who was picked out of political obscurity to help lead the new-and-improved FBI, reportedly returned to work this week under a cloud of uncertainty about his future at the agency. By Monday morning, officials were starting to squirm and feared that Bongino would be a no-show yet again, but he arrived in the office a few hours later than expected. According to The Daily Beast, administration insiders claim Trump is quietly furious that one of his hand-picked appointees would so publicly go against him. Trump rushed to Bondi's defense amid mounting criticism from the likes of Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly and Steve Bannon, asking: '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. '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.' Even after his defense of her, major MAGA backers are demanding Bondi lose her job over the saga. There were initially whispers that Bongino and FBI boss Kash Patel were united in their willingness to walk away from their jobs if Bondi kept hers, but Patel has since squashed those rumors. 'The conspiracy theories just aren't true, never have been,' Patel said. 'It's an honor to serve the President of the United States @realDonaldTrump — and I'll continue to do so for as long as he calls on me.' Bongino was reportedly particularly irked by Bondi's decision to oversell what she initially had during the early stages of the Epstein investigation. In February, she invited MAGA influencers to the White House and gave them binders containing 'a truckload' of new details, but upon closer inspection it was discovered the folders contained no new information. Then, she said the highly anticipated client list was 'sitting on my desk' awaiting review before it, too, would be released. Now, she maintains a client list does not exist, and said in a memo that Epstein likely died by suicide, rather than the long-held conspiracy held by many within MAGA that he was murdered while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Sources claimed Bongino was confronted last week about information that was leaked to the media suggesting he and Patel wanted more information released to the public. He maintained he was not the source of the leaks. Trump told reporters on Sunday he had contacted Bongino and urged him not to resign. 'I spoke to him today,' he said. 'Dan Bongino, very good guy. I've known him a long time. I've done his show many, many times. He sounded terrific, actually.' Asked on Sunday if Bongino remained in his position, Trump said: 'Oh I think so.' As a popular pro-MAGA right-wing podcaster before joining the FBI, Bongino touted conspiracies that convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was murdered in jail to prevent the list of his high-profile clientele from reaching the light of day. Far-right media personality Laura Loomer warned Republicans that the lack of revelations in the Epstein case will cost them elections in the future. 'People make their own choices and decisions, but mark my word, the lack of actual results at the DOJ and lack of transparency that translates into incompetence will cost the GOP House and Senate seats.' But Bongino (pictured left with Trump), a podcaster who was picked out of political obscurity to help lead the new-and-improved FBI, reportedly returned to work this week under a cloud of uncertainty about his future at the agency 'Don't say I didn't warn you,' she added. Billionaire Elon Musk took a side when he unfollowed Bondi on X. On his podcast, conservative luminary Tucker Carlson theorized that Bondi is orchestrating a cover-up in order to protect members of the intelligence community who were ensnared in Epstein's conduct. 'The current DOJ under Pam Bondi is covering up crimes, very serious crimes by their own description,' Carlson said. 'Intel services are at the very center of this story, U.S. and Israeli and they're being protected.' White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reaffirmed Trump's continued support for Bondi despite calls to resign.
The Independent
a day ago
- Politics
- The Independent
New poll shows drop in Trump's approval rating
Backlash over the Trump administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation is impacting the president's approval ratings. A Morning Consult poll revealed a six-point drop in Trump 's approval, from 50 percent to 44 percent, between mid-June and mid-July. The denial by the FBI and Justice Department of an Epstein 'client list' became problematic, as Trump 's own team had previously fuelled such speculation. Outrage has erupted among Trump 's online supporters and Democrats alike, who are critical of perceived stonewalling on information about the case. Despite Trump 's plea for his followers to drop the issue, a YouGov poll indicates a majority of Americans believe the full extent of Epstein's crimes will never be known.
The Independent
a day ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Trump sees his approval rating waver as backlash from Epstein files engulfs MAGA
Backlash over the Trump administration's fumbling of the Epstein investigation could be a factor behind a slew of polling showing the president's approval rating wavering. In a Morning Consult poll released Monday, 47 percent of voters said that they approved of Donald Trump's performance as president. It was a slight gain of two percentage points from the prior week's tracking survey results, but it belies a massive shift over the past month. Over the course of mid-June to mid-July, Morning Consult's polling tracked a six-point drop in Trump's approval rating, from 50 percent to 44 percent, alongside a surge in disapproval from 44 percent to 50 percent. Over that time period, the administration oversaw passage of the GOP's budget reconciliation package, the 'big beautiful bill,' through Congress. The White House also ordered strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, leading many to believe at the time that the U.S. was on the brink of being drawn directly into a Middle Eastern conflict once again. The chilling spectacle of massive ICE raids across the country has also caused Trump's issue-based approval rating on immigration to plunge in multiple recent surveys. His approval rating actually ticked up slightly in the days after the FBI and Justice Department declared in a joint statement that there was no evidence to support the existence of a 'client list' in the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted pedophile who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting prosecution for sex trafficking charges. That finding has become a major problem for the president, given that members of his own team fueled speculation about the issue in media appearances and in public statements for years. Trump's performance rating was also dipping in a second survey from the Scott Rasmussen-founded Napolitan News Service, which saw it drop by 1 percentage point between June 30 and July 10. But those polls may not have registered the extent of the fury that has engulfed MAGAworld over the sudden stonewalling of further information about the investigation from Trump and his team, given that it tracked responses from July 4-10. That backlash has largely erupted among Trump's youngest and most online supporters as outrage has rippled across the MAGA podcasting spheres and begun leaking into the sort-of-adjacent 'manosphere' podcasting arena as well. Democrats, too, began picking up the issue late last week as the party catches on to the anger over broken promises made by the likes of Vice President JD Vance and others to make public more information about the case — including, most importantly, the list of supposed clients. Few in MAGAworld beyond some of Trump's most opportunistic loyalists have accepted the explanation that a client list, whether created by Epstein himself or by investigators, exists in some form. Attorney General Pam Bondi's remark that the file was 'on her desk' earlier this year, and Elon Musk's assertion that Trump is on the supposed list, are not helping matters for the White House. Trump, on Saturday, issued his own bizarrely worded plea to his followers to drop the issue, which was rejected in a rare ratio-ing committed by his Truth Social fans. 'What's going on with my 'boys' and, in some cases, 'gals?'' Trump wrote. 'They're all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTIC JOB!' '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,' added Trump. In other polling, the president remains even further underwater. A Yahoo/YouGov poll released in early July found the president 16 points in the negative on the issue of his overall job performance, fueled in part by an 8-point deficit on the issue of immigration and border control. No major surveys have directly polled the handling of the Epstein case by Trump and his team specifically. However, a YouGov poll (for which methodology was not immediately available) released on July 9 found that a wide majority of American adults do not believe the extent of Epstein's crimes will ever be known or investigated.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fact Check: Posts claim photo shows Trump and Epstein with minor girl. Here's the truth
Claim: An image authentically showed Jeffrey Epstein posing with U.S. President Donald Trump and a young girl. Rating: An image that allegedly depicts a young girl posing with U.S. President Donald Trump and the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein regularly circulates online — and resurfaced again in early July 2025. The renewed attention on the image followed a July 7 U.S. Department of Justice memo stating that the department's review found no incriminating "client list" and no credible evidence that Epstein had blackmailed prominent people. It also concluded that "no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted" in its investigation of Epstein. The next day, Trump responded to a reporter's question at a Cabinet meeting by saying, "Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy's been talked about for years." For instance, one July 9, 2025, X post (archived) with the image referred to Attorney General Pam Bondi in its caption: "Hey Magas! This is what Barbie Bondi is protecting! If this doesn't make you angry you're part of the problem! 🤬." (X user @koolkaryn) The image has appeared over the years on multiple social media platforms, including Instagram and Reddit, as well as Chinese-language websites. In short, we found the image contained numerous signs it was generated using artificial intelligence. For instance, the girl's left hand seemed to be deformed, along with the left sleeve of Trump's jacket. (X user @FlyingDutchPall) Via a reverse-image search, we found a full-size version of the viral image shared on Quora. (TheGoodRussian Quora profile) In the original version of the image we spotted more indications the photograph was created artificially. For instance, the faces of people in the background were deformed, Trump had only one leg and Epstein seemed to be dissolving into the couch. (TheGoodRussian Quora profile) Given that the in-question photograph was created using AI software, we have rated it as fake. We've fact-checked other Epstein- and Trump-related claims, including debunking a supposed photo of the men on a plane. In July 2023, we investigated another AI-generated image, allegedly showing Trump and Epstein posing with underage girls. That said, some viral photos of the pair together are genuine. Take this 1997 photograph, for instance, that was taken at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. Baum, Sarah. "Does This Photo Show Trump and Epstein with Underage Girls?" Snopes, 14 July 2023, Izzo, Jack. "A Quick Guide to the Jeffrey Epstein Documents Unsealed on Jan. 3, 2024." Snopes, 4 Jan. 2024, PerryCook, Taija. "Is This a Real Photo of Trump and Epstein on a Private Plane?" Snopes, 2 Jan. 2024,
The Independent
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Jake Tapper says Trump is gaslighting the public on Epstein: ‘You're being played for fools'
CNN anchor Jake Tapper tore into Donald Trump for his sudden about-face on the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, claiming that the public was being 'played for fools' after the Justice Department released a memo essentially saying the case was closed and Epstein had no 'client list.' Tapper's scathing monologue came just hours after the president indignantly dismissed a reporter's question about the Epstein files and discrepancies in the information that was released this week, prompting Trump to fume that it was 'unbelievable' that 'people are still talking about this creep.' During Tuesday's broadcast of CNN's The Lead, the veteran journalist kicked off his segment by highlighting the amount of rage that the Epstein memo has provoked among MAGA supporters, specifically noting that former 'first buddy' Elon Musk has been increasingly outspoken about the matter. 'How can people be expected to have faith in Trump if he won't release the Epstein files?' Tapper asked, quoting a tweet from Tuesday afternoon by Musk, who has reignited his feud with the president in recent days. Pointing out that the Tesla CEO's post 'gets at a serious question prompted by MAGA fans,' Tapper added that this comes after the DOJ determined in its memo that Epstein did not blackmail high-profile clients, did not maintain a 'client list,' and was not murdered in his jail cell in 2019. 'Despite the fact that the very same administration officials are now asserting there is no there there, many of them were the ones ginning up the controversy before President Trump was reelected and while they were in office,' the Lead host stated. Underscoring that the memo also happened to come out just a month after Musk accused the president of 'being in the Epstein files' and claiming this was the 'real reason' why they hadn't been released, Tapper brought up the billionaire's recent social media broadsides against the administration. Spotlighting a meme Musk shared that shows a guy putting on progressively more clown makeup before eventually declaring 'there is no Epstein list,' Tapper then aired clips of Attorney General Pam Bondi claiming in February that she had the deceased sex offender's 'client list' on her desk for review. After playing additional footage of Bondi walking back those remarks and the president complaining about being asked about the Epstein memo, the CNN anchor explained to Trump why there is still intense interest in the disgraced financier. 'Mr. President, the reason people are talking about this guy is because people serving in the highest levels of your administration have been talking about this guy for years and talking about how the list, the Epstein list, needs to be released,' Tapper exclaimed. From there, Tapper rolled a montage of several Trump officials – and the president himself – saying that it was imperative that the Epstein list needed to be released and how it would almost certainly lead to mass arrests of prominent political and business figures. Vice President JD Vance, for instance, said just before the 2024 election that it was 'an important thing' for the list to be publicly released. FBI Director Kash Patel, who along with his deputy Dan Bongino spent the past few years as MAGA podcasters trafficking in Epstein conspiracies, declared in 2023 that the list hadn't been released yet because of 'who's on it.' Bongino, in fact, was insisting just weeks before he was tapped to be second-in-charge at the FBI that he was 'never going to let this story go' because of what he heard from a source about Bill Clinton's trips on Epstein's plane. (After Epstein's arrest in 2019, a Clinton spokesperson said the former president had no knowledge of Epstein's terrible crimes.) After airing a clip of then-White House counselor Alina Habba claiming in February that the administration had 'incredibly disturbing' and 'shocking' files on Epstein that it was about to make public, Tapper snarked: 'I'm shocked that none of that's been released.' Explaining that Bondi continually teased the imminent publication of the Epstein files, only to drop a dud when she handed 'Phase One' binders full of already-public information to MAGA influencers, the host clarified exactly how the president and his administration were gaslighting the American people. 'Remember, Trump made part of this his platform,' he declared, playing a clip of the president telling Fox News last year that he'd declassify the Epstein files. 'So what's really going on here? I mean, what's really going on? Well, experts such as our friend Julie Brown from the Miami Herald, who has been covering Epstein for years, say that the notion of Epstein having an easy-to-access client list is likely a red herring.' Tapper said. 'And that's what the Trump Administration is relying on, that there likely isn't a list, per se, but they are also now relying on the fact that because it's MAGA influencers who often put forward so many falsehoods, legacy news media won't push the point that while there might not be a list, there are certainly files that can be released,' he continued. Stating that there's a 'trove of information' on Epstein that the administration is refusing to share right now, which could implicate powerful folks who took part in the sex trafficking of Epstein's victims, Tapper wrapped up the segment by warning the president that he can't just shrug this off and move on. 'So while there may not be an official client list to be released, as the administration is now saying, there's a lot of extra information that is not being made public despite Trump's Justice Department basically now saying case closed,' he concluded. 'This isn't going to go away. The public – you – you're being played for fools here.'
