President Donald Trump continues to face backlash from his MAGA supporters over his administration’s dealing with of the Jeffrey Epstein information.
The Justice Division and FBI stated in a short memo {that a} overview discovered no Epstein “consumer listing” and confirmed the disgraced financier died by suicide in jail whereas awaiting trial on sex-trafficking fees.
The president has tried to shift focus away from the case, urging Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi to launch “no matter she thinks is credible” earlier than occurring to say with out proof the whole factor was what he calls a “Democratic hoax.”
Some Republicans have fueled the Epstein intrigue and conspiracies surrounding the case for years, with Trump himself weighing in a number of occasions.
Here is what Trump has stated about Epstein throughout his first time period, on the marketing campaign path and now as stress builds on him to launch the Epstein information.
President Donald Trump attends the inaugural Pennsylvania Power and Innovation Summit on the campus of Carnegie Mellon College in Pittsburgh, July 15, 2025.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP by way of Getty Photos
2019: Trump distances himself from Epstein: ‘Not a fan’
After Epstein was arrested and charged with intercourse trafficking of minors in July 2019, Trump was requested about his 2002 feedback through which he referred to as Epstein “terrific” in a New York Journal story.
In response, Trump repeatedly stated he wasn’t a “fan” of Epstein.
“Nicely, I knew him like everyone in Palm Seaside knew him,” Trump advised reporters within the Oval Workplace. “I imply, individuals in Palm Seaside knew him. He was a fixture in Palm Seaside. I had a falling out with him a very long time in the past. I do not assume I’ve spoken to him for 15 years. I wasn’t a fan. I used to be not, yeah, a very long time in the past, I might say perhaps 15 years. I used to be not a fan of his, that I can inform you. I used to be not a fan of his.”
In August 2019, after Epstein’s loss of life, Trump retweeted a submit that alleged Invoice Clinton was related to Epstein’s loss of life.
When requested about his retweet in an interview, Trump stated “what we’re saying is we would like an investigation. I need a full investigation, and that is what I completely am demanding. That is what our lawyer basic — our nice lawyer basic — is doing.” The lawyer basic on the time was Invoice Barr.
Pressed additional on if he actually believed the Clintons had been concerned, Trump did not shut it down.
“I do not know,” he stated, however inspired additional questions. “So you need to ask: Did Invoice Clinton go to the island? That is the query. Should you discover that out, you are going to know so much,” Trump stated on the time.
Clinton has denied any information of Epstein’s crimes and has denied ever visiting Epstein’s non-public island.
2020: Trump advised Epstein could have been killed
In August 2020, in the course of the thick of his reelection marketing campaign, Trump advised Epstein could have been killed whereas in federal custody.
The feedback went towards the findings of then-Lawyer Normal Barr and the New York Metropolis health worker who dominated the loss of life a suicide.
Throughout an interview with Axios reporter Jonathan Swan, Trump was requested about Ghislaine Maxwell, an affiliate of Epstein who on the time of the interview had simply been arrested. She is presently serving a 20-year sentence for conspiring with and aiding Epstein in his sexual abuse of underage women.
“Her boyfriend died in jail. And individuals are nonetheless attempting to determine how did it occur,” Trump stated. “Was it suicide? Was he killed? And I do want her effectively. I am not in search of something dangerous for her.”
In August 2023, in an interview with Tucker Carlson, Trump was pressed additional on if he believed Epstein dedicated suicide or not.
“Do you assume it is doable that Epstein was killed?” Carlson requested.
“Oh, positive, it is doable. I imply, I do not actually imagine — I feel he in all probability dedicated suicide,” Trump stated.
2024: Trump requested about Epstein on the marketing campaign path
In June 2024, Trump was requested if he would launch numerous information — together with the John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. assassination information and the Epstein information — throughout an interview with Fox Information.
“Would you declassify the Epstein information?” Fox Information’ Rachel Campos-Duffy requested. Trump responded, “Yeah, yeah, I might.”
That clip was circulated extensively on-line, together with by the Trump Warfare Room — the social media account of Trump’s marketing campaign operation. The account posted it to X with the caption: “President Trump says he’ll DECLASSIFY the 9/11 Recordsdata, JFK Recordsdata, and Epstein Recordsdata.”
However Trump’s full reply to the query wasn’t proven till it performed on Will Cain’s radio present.
Trump went on to say within the trade with Campos-Duffy: “I do not learn about Epstein a lot as I do the others. Actually about the best way he died. It might be fascinating to seek out out what occurred there, as a result of that was a bizarre scenario and the cameras did not occur to be working, and so forth., and so forth. However yeah, I might go a great distance towards that one.”
On this Sept. 8, 2004, file picture, Jeffrey Epstein is proven in Cambridge, Mass.
Rick Friedman/Corbis by way of Getty Photos, FILE
In September 2024, Trump made a extra agency pledge to launch Epstein information throughout a podcast with Lex Fridman.
Fridman, in dialog with Trump, stated “it is simply very unusual for lots of people that the listing of shoppers that went to the island has not been made public.”
“It’s extremely fascinating, is not it? It in all probability can be, by the best way, in all probability,” Trump stated.
“Should you’re capable of, you may be –” Fridman began earlier than Trump jumped in.
“Yeah, I might definitely check out it. Now, Kennedy’s fascinating as a result of it is so a few years in the past,” Trump stated. “They try this for hazard too, as a result of it endangers sure individuals, et cetera, et cetera, so Kennedy could be very totally different from the Epstein factor however I might be inclined to do the Epstein. I might don’t have any drawback with it.”
2025: Trump tries to dismiss Epstein information after DOJ, FBI memo prompts GOP backlash
For the primary a number of months of his administration, discuss of the Epstein information was largely left to Trump officers, together with Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino. In April, Trump stated he was unaware of when the information could be launched.
Then, after the DOJ and FBI launched their memo on July 7, Trump reacted to outrage from his MAGA base.
Trump tried to close down a query about Epstein throughout a Cupboard assembly the following day, July 8, proper after the lethal flash flooding of the Guadalupe River.
“Are you continue to speaking about Jeffrey Epstein?” Trump shot again to a reporter. “This man’s been talked about for years. You are asking. We now have Texas, we have now this. We now have the entire issues. And are individuals nonetheless speaking about this man, this creep? That’s unbelievable.”
Trump then turned to defend Bondi in a prolonged social media submit on July 12, through which he stated his administration and his supporters ought to prioritize their focus elsewhere.
“We now have a PERFECT Administration, THE TALK OF THE WORLD, and ‘egocentric individuals’ are attempting to harm it, throughout a man who by no means dies, Jeffrey Epstein,” Trump wrote within the submit.
President Donald Trump speaks to the media after arriving at Joint Base Andrews, July 15, 2025, in Joint Base Andrews, Md.
Evan Vucci/AP
The story, although, did not die down and Trump solely appeared to develop extra angered by the pushback from his supporters.
On July 15, Trump appeared to place the onus on Bondi for what comes subsequent, saying she ought to launch “no matter she thinks is credible” on Epstein. Later that day, Trump stated he did not perceive the curiosity in Epstein.
“It is fairly boring stuff. It is sordid, however it’s boring, and I do not perceive why it retains going,” Trump stated. He added, “I feel actually solely fairly dangerous individuals, together with faux information, wish to maintain one thing like that going.”
The following day, on July 16, Trump took to social media baselessly blaming Democrats for the information and those that he referred to as “previous supporters” of his for the fixation on Epstein.
“Their new SCAM is what we’ll eternally name the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have purchased into this “b——,” hook, line, and sinker,” Trump wrote on his personal conservative social media platform.
“Let these weaklings proceed ahead and do the Democrats work, do not even take into consideration speaking of our unimaginable and unprecedented success, as a result of I do not need their assist anymore!” Trump added.
Trump doubled down on that declare within the Oval Workplace, calling it a Democratic “hoax.” When requested by ABC Information Chief White Home Correspondent Mary Bruce if the lawyer basic advised him it was a hoax or what proof he’d seen of that, Trump replied:
“The lawyer basic, no. I do know it is a hoax. It is began by Democrats,” Trump insisted. He added “some silly” and “silly” Republicans had fallen for it.
ABC Information’ Will Steakin contributed to this report.
