Donald Trump has labelled the Jeffrey Epstein files ‘boring’ and said he doesn’t understand why people continue to be interested in the case, as accusations of a cover-up continue to mount.
The President has shown growing frustration with questions about the files, and shook his head when asked why his supporters in particular ‘have been so interested [in the case] and so upset with how it’s been handled’.
‘He’s dead for a long time,’ Trump said of the disgraced financier. ‘He was never a big factor in terms of life. I don’t understand why the Jeffrey Epstein case would be of interest to anybody.’
The Epstein files, a collection of redacted documents relating to Epstein’s case, were believed by many to contain the name of the sex trafficker’s list of associates.
Trump Attorney General Pam Bondi teased a full release of the evidence, even at one point suggesting a ‘client list’ was on her desk, but last week an FBI and Department of Justice memo said ‘no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.’
The files, said to include a thousand hours of video footage depicting child sexual abuse, did not include evidence of a client list, according to the memo.
The refusal to release the documents has incensed members of the MAGA movement, with Trump allies calling for ‘transparency’ and some supporters saying they felt ‘betrayed’ by the backtracking.
Speaking to reporters after landing in Maryland on Air Force One, Trump said of the notorious files: ‘It’s pretty boring stuff. It’s sordid, but it’s boring, and I don’t understand why it keeps going.’
President Trump made the comments as he returned to Maryland following a trip to Pittsburgh
Trump distanced himself from the disgraced financier during his first presidential campaign and later said they had a ‘falling out’
President Donald Trump and his Attorney General Pam Bondi are facing MAGA mutiny amid claims they botched an investigation into Epstein’s laundry list of crimes
Avoiding reference to criticism from his supporters and allies, Trump went on: ‘I think really only pretty bad people, including fake news, want to keep something like that going.
‘But credible information? Let them give it – anything that’s credible, I would say, let them have it,’ he added.
Facing pressure from MAGA supporters, Trump had earlier said that Bondi should release ‘whatever she thinks is credible’ in terms of documents pertaining to the case.
Throughout his presidential campaign, Trump said he would have ‘no problem’ looking into the Epstein client list.
He went on to appoint MAGA proponents of Epstein conspiracy theories, including FBI Director Kash Patel and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, who previously made broad accusations of corruption and abuse.
But these figures are now part of an administration defending the decision not to release the files, with rifts reportedly opening up between Bongino and Bondi.
Bongino has reportedly not shown up to work since July 9, when a shouting match is said to have erupted between the pair.
‘Bongino is out-of-control furious,’ a source close to him told NBC News. ‘This destroyed his career. He’s threatening to quit and torch Pam unless she’s fired.’
The threat infuriated Trump, according to CNN, and he is said to have sided with Bondi in the row.
Asked by reporters on Sunday if Bongino would remain in his position, the President 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.’
In a lengthy statement on Truth Social on Saturday, Trump praised Bondi’s work while also urging supporters to turn their attention away from the Epstein files controversy.
A rift has reportedly opened up between Bondi and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino
‘One year ago our Country was DEAD, now it’s the ‘HOTTEST’ Country anywhere in the World. Let’s keep it that way, and not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about,’ he wrote.
Asked yesterday whether he specifically was named in the files, Trump said: ‘No, no,’ before adding that Bondi had ‘given us just a very quick briefing’ on their contents.
He then baselessly accused James Comey, the former director of the FBI under President Obama, of ‘making up’ the files.
‘These files were made up by Comey, they were made up by Obama, they were made up by the Biden [administration],’ he said.
Trump made similar claims that the Democrats were to blame in his series of Truth Social posts on Saturday, writing: ‘They created the Epstein Files, just like they created the FAKE Hillary Clinton/Christopher that they used on me, and now my so-called ‘friends’ are playing right into their hands.
‘Why didn’t these Radical Left Lunatics release the Epstein Files? If there was ANYTHING in there that could have hurt the MAGA Movement, why didn’t they use it?’
On Monday, Republican lawmakers blocked a Democrat-led effort to force the release of the Epstein files.
Republicans for their part pointed out that the files were also not released under previous presidents, including Joe Biden.
Billionaire financier Epstein and his right-hand woman Ghislaine Maxwell had a wide circle of friends from fellow billionaires to politicians like Trump, the Clintons, and entertainment icons.
The MAGA movement has long promoted conspiracy theories that ‘Deep State’ elites are protecting Epstein’s powerful associates.
Suspicions that Epstein held client lists and that his death was not a suicide were far from assuaged by the memo and Trump’s calls for supporters to move on from the case.
Trump was friends with Epstein and a neighbour of his in Florida for years, once describing him as a ‘terrific guy’.
‘It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side,’ Trump said in an interview in 2002.
But he distanced himself from the disgraced financier during his first presidential campaign and later said they had a ‘falling out’.
Back in February, Bondi told Fox News that a list of Epstein clients was on her desk for review.
Questioned by reporters about the claim in recent days, her spokesman clarified that she had been referring to files in the case generally.
Meanwhile some of his most influential allies have refused, including House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, have called for ‘transparency’.
Maxwell (pictured with Prince Andrew and accuser Virginia Giuffre) was convicted in 2021 , two years after Epstein was found dead in his cell while awaiting trial for child sex offense
The debacle has left the MAGA movement divided, with leading voices including Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Steve Bannon and Megyn Kelly also joining the call for the files to be released.
In a recent conversation with conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, former Fox News host Carlson questioned why journalists have been reprimanded for asking questions about the case.
A reporter who asked about the memo last week was met with furious rebuke from Trump, who reacted by saying that the catastrophic flooding in Texas was a more important issue.
‘You’re asking – we have Texas, we have this, we have all of the things, and are people still talking about this guy? This creep? That is unbelievable,’ Trump said at the time.
Carlson expressed disdain at Trump’s dismissive response, asking: ‘Why is it not a fair question? There’s tons of evidence this is happening. Like, are you joking?
‘You’re not going to shout me down, by the way, at this point. I spent four years being shouted down by the Left for asking, I thought, pretty reasonable questions.’
Carlson added that attacking critics for their questions ‘is not going to work.’
‘And telling me that my question is an insult to the children who died in Texas in a flood is an outrageous response,’ he said of Trump’s response.
