It was a hell week in which Donald Trump’s government almost broke. In the end, the President had suffered more headwind and political damage through dealing with his government with the Jeffrey Epstein files than by the bombing of Iran last month.
“The week was a decent kick in the eggs,” notes a senior government official bluntly. “There was a lot to process. And there were many emotions.”
An end is not in sight. Because Trump’s supporters-from Maga-Influencers to Republican politicians-continue to run against the memo of the Ministry of Justice. This announced that the government assumed that Epstein killed itself in prison. And that the case of the convicted sex offender and presumed human retailer is essentially complete. The drama has obviously consumed the patience of the notoriously moody president. “They just don’t stop talking about it,” Trump scolded privately according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter. What was meant were conservative influencers and media figures that pull over the Epstein memo.
The crisis does not end
Anyone who knew Trump’s base could have predicted the persistent chaos. Nevertheless, Trump managed to maneuver himself in a worst-case scenario with his apparently improvised crisis management. One in which his attempts to extinguish the fire have only worsened the situation.
Trump has now repeatedly tried to dismiss the Epstein files as “boring”. He claims that they were “invented” by Democrats. In a wild tantrum on Truth Social on Wednesday, he even attacked his own supporters for being interested in it.
“Your new fraud is what we will call the Jeffrey Epstein swindling forever. And my former supporters fell on this ‘nonsense’. With skin and hair,” wrote the president as part of a long Tirade on Truth Social. “You have not learned your lesson. And will probably never do it. Even after eight long years in which you were cheated by the crazy left.”
Internal turmoil and failed damage limitation
He continued to insult the “stupid” and “foolish” Republicans who fell for the Epstein “dizziness”, while he later spoke to reporters on Wednesday morning in the Oval Office. During a meeting with the head of state of Bahrain.
The top levels of the Trump government have spent considerable time and resources to limit the damage by the Memo of the Ministry of Justice and the FBI. Its content contradicts the widespread conspiracy theories of the right. They have long said that Trump’s former friend Epstein was murdered to cover up the sexual crimes of the Democratic Party and Liberal elites. (Epstein was found dead in his prison cell in 2019 during Trump’s first term.)
Trump personally promised to publish Epstein’s list of customers. At the beginning of the year, the Maga Influencer government invited to the White House to hand over a report from the “Epstein Files Phase One” report. A PR campaign that started back because it did not contain any new information.
The striking U -turn of the government in terms of Epstein has not only annoyed its base. But also triggered chaos within the Trump administration and re-sparked old tensions between the highest ranking employees of the law enforcement authorities. Dan Bongino, deputy FBI director and former Epstein fanatic, threatened to resign because of the memo. He did not appear to work on Friday in protest.
Zank in the highest government circles
Ranghehe Trump employee had to take action to Kitten the relationship between Minister of Justice Pam Bondi and the two FBI executives Kash Patel and his deputy Bongino. Both were annoyed by Bondi’s handling of the Epstein investigations. Trump and Vice President JD Vance personally intervened in the arbitration attempts. But Bongino continued on his threat of resignation. He was officially in office on Wednesday. However, according to numerous sources in and near the White House, he has lost a lot of reputation with his-as a confidante, who is not very flattering, “childish tantrum”.
On Monday, after it became known that Bongino had been released again this week, another senior government official Rolling Stone sent a YouTube link to a scene from “Seinfeld” in which George Costanza has angrily announced that he has no perspectives. And just return to the office as if nothing had happened.
In the meantime, Trump and his confidants worked on how an employee of the White House described to “cut down this Maga rebellion”, which spreads out in the conservative spectrum. Government employees observed the predominantly negative reactions of right-wing ally and influencers and created lists in the divide-and-conquer style, which showed which Trump employee should contact which Epstein conspiracy theorist in order to move him to give in.
The attempt to limit the damage dragged on so long that Trump intervened. He tried to convince some of his most loyal supporters by telephone to let the Epstein theme rest. The campaign at the highest level was almost similar to the type of sensitive operations that are normally reserved for large legislative initiatives.
FOX-News successiveness and internal perplexity
At the beginning of this week, Trump’s preferred news channel Fox News seemed to have understood the message. “People know that there are other topics to report,” says an insider of the station. “There is an implicit threat that you could lose access or no longer receive any recalls if you are too aggressive.”
The government officials continue to fight with how to better contain the effects. According to the government -related sources, there are internal debates on the further procedure. Whether the Ministry of Justice z. B. the demands of right-wing trump allies such as Laura Loomer and should use a special investigator. Whether certain sections should be blackened or released. Or whether you should do something completely different.
“It is a disaster. Nobody seems to know whether the next attempt to reconcile with the base only makes things worse,” says a Republican strategist informed about the situation.
But many Trump consultants agree on one point. The president does not do himself with his personal communication offensive.
At the weekend, after Trump made his now repeated claim that the Epstein files were written by “Obama, the fraudulent Hillary” and other enemies and should therefore have no relevance for its basis, a government official admitted: “He himself makes it difficult for his most loyal support that he really is in the epstein files.”
Right voices continue to grumble
The right-wing extremist prominence was little impressed by Trump’s “Epstein-Jiu-Jitsu”. “Barack Obama wrote the Epstein files? Lol. This is just embarrassing,” Candace Owens wrote to X. The former Daily-Wire correspondent also said in her podcast: “The Epstein scandal is definitely a fatal cancer for the Maga movement,” she said. And added: “You just can’t get anyone to forget the Epstein scandal.”
But the Trump government tries it. The President is said to have called some of the Maga Influencers at the weekend who criticized Bondi’s dealings with the case-including Charlie Kirk from Turning Point USA. Kirk apparently steered on Monday. “To be honest, I’m through with Epstein for now,” he said in his podcast. “I will trust my friends in the government that they are doing what is necessary is now with them.”
Benny Johnson, who, like Owens, also reacted to Trump’s claim that Obama was responsible for the Epstein files, spoke Monday: He had “just made a phone call to a high-ranking investigator” and could report that the government “heard the voice of the people”-one should “expect further revelations”.
Dinesh d’Auza-the right filmmaker and Trump allied behind 2000 Mules, a documentary about the conspiracy theory of a fake election 2020-argued this week in his podcast that “it was now time to continue” despite open questions about Epstein. “
Owens could be right with her assessment of the longevity of the scandal. Numerous Maga-Influencer-from Loomer to Megyn Kelly to Dilbert creator Scott Adams-are still outraged by the memo. General Michael Flynn, a key figure of the Maga displacement movement, published a detailed request to Trump on Wednesday to take the topic seriously. Even Charlie Kirk demanded more commitment on Tuesday – one day after his break: “We don’t go on.”
Democrats make capital out of chaos
The Republicans in Congress also do not continue. Spokesman for the House of Representatives Mike Johnson (R-La.) Said Benny Johnson on Tuesday that he was “for transparency”, supported a statement by Epstein’s complicity Ghislaine Maxwell before the congress and demanded: “Pam Bondi has to explain.”
Meanwhile, deputy Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) Meanwhile said reporters that he “trusted” the statements of the Ministry of Justice at Epstein. MP Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA.), One of the best-known conspiracy theorists in the congress, told the New York Times that the Doj memo was “a complete turnaround to everything that was previously said-and people are simply not ready to accept that”.
The Democrats meanwhile use the Epstein chaos for their purposes. MP Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) Brought a change to the Genius Act-a draft law on crypto regulation-this week that was supposed to force the publication of the Epstein files.
The Republicans rejected them.
However, this did not prevent the right wing from believing that Trump and his federal officials had to hide something and wanted to protect their boss.
“We are always looking for points of attack, and at the moment Trump hurts himself,” says Pat Dennis, President of the Democratic research group American Bridge 21st Century. “Something that we are now using specifically is the message: If Donald Trump is not behind you- on a topic that was part of the Maga and Gop legend- what else is he behind you? In terms of medical security? Economy? Economy? This is a strong field of attack- and he has created it himself.”
Trump’s next steps uncertain
American Bridge has long had a “file” file. Dennis adds that during the 2016 presidential election campaign – also with the teams of Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio – it began to research Trump’s connections to Epstein.
He says: “This has been an issue for years, and we have some research at American Bridge that we like to share to remember and inform people.” According to Dennis, corresponding messages were shared “with a number of allies” last week, both “in the progressive camp” and beyond.
As Trump and his government are now proceed, it is unclear – the scandal does not seem to be flawed off at the moment. The President deported responsibility to Bondi on Tuesday: “She handled it very well, and it is now up to her,” he said about the Minister of Justice. “What she thinks is credible.”
Bondi was later asked about Trump’s statement on Tuesday that she should publish what was credible. Her answer: “Our memo speaks for itself. I didn’t see all of his statements today.”