Trump lashes out at supporters for fixating on ‘Epstein hoax’

Trump accused his supporters of buying into a Democratic narrative as they opposed the decision not to release more material from the investigation into disgraced financier.

President Trump and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. Picture: AFP

President Trump lashed out at his own supporters for opposing his administration’s decision not to release more material from the investigation into disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, accusing them of buying into a Democratic narrative.

“My PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bull—,’ hook, line, and sinker,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday morning. The president added: “I don’t want their support anymore!”

The Justice Department said in a memo last week that there isn’t a “client list” of high profile people who participated in Epstein’s trafficking of young girls, and new files wouldn’t be released. That angered some of Trump’s prominent supporters, who believe that global elites are ensnared in Epstein’s crimes and are being protected by the administration’s silence.

During the campaign, Trump said he would release additional details about Epstein.

The episode is Trump’s most significant break with his base and some House Republicans since he took office for a second time.

Some of Trump’s supporters also raised concerns about his recent decision to launch US strikes on Iran, which some in his political base feared would lead to another protracted Middle East conflict, and over sending arms to Ukraine. Trump helped negotiate a ceasefire between Israel and Iran shortly after launching the US strikes. Trump said this week the US reached a deal with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation that would send weapons and air defences to Ukraine within days. Trump, in his Wednesday social-media post, referred to angry members of his base as weaklings, saying they are doing the work of the Democrats.

“I have had more success in 6 months than perhaps any President in our Country’s history, and all these people want to talk about, with strong prodding by the Fake News and the success starved Dems, is the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax,” he wrote

Donald and Melania Trump, with Jeffrey Epstein, and Ghislaine Maxwell in 2000. Picture: Davidoff Studios/Getty Images

Trump’s angry remarks came as some House Republicans have backed an effort to try to force more disclosures from the Justice Department. Rep. Thomas Massie (Republican, Kentucky.) introduced a discharge petition in the GOP-controlled chamber to force a vote to release more Epstein-related files, joined by Rep. Ro Khanna (Democrat, California). They had the initial support of several Republicans including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Eric Burlison of Missouri and Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey.

“I am proudly cosponsoring and will sign the discharge petition,” Greene, a longtime MAGA movement leader, said in an X post on Wednesday. “I will never protect pedophiles or the elites and their circles.”

The petition requires 218 signatures, a majority of the House, to advance.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (Republican, Louisiana) has also signalled he wanted more disclosure from the administration. “It’s a very delicate subject but we should put everything out there and let the people decide,” he said in an interview this week with conservative media commentator Benny Johnson.

Democrats have embraced the effort, seeing it as a political cudgel. Earlier this week, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (Democrat, New York) said that there were two possibilities: That Trump allies had been lying for years about the client list, or that they were now trying to cover it up.

“The American people deserve to know the truth. What, if anything, is the Trump administration and the DOJ hiding?” he said Monday. “If you are not hiding anything, prove that to the American people.”

Wall Street Journal