WASHINGTON DC – When US President Donald Trump returns to the White House from Scotland on Tuesday night, he will discover that Jeffrey Epstein’s name remains firmly on Washington’s lips.
If the US President hoped that his four-day weekend of golf and diplomacy at Turnberry would distract America’s attention from the swirling questions about his relationship with the disgraced and deceased sex-trafficking financier, he will soon have to face reality: many of his core supporters say they will settle for nothing less than a full accounting of Trump’s role in Epstein’s inner circle.
A new Washington Post poll published on Tuesday morning shows that most Americans are focused on the Epstein story, with most Republican voters “expressing a mix of approval and uncertainty” over the US President’s handling of the crisis. Some 67 per cent of respondents said they “strongly support” releasing all files relating to Epstein and his activities, with 61 per cent saying they believe the documents contain embarrassing information about Trump.
Trump’s latest version of events was revealed on Monday, during his lengthy, impromptu press conference alongside Sir Keir Starmer. “I never went to the island”, he said, in a reference to Epstein’s private retreat in the US Virgin Islands, where it is alleged that sex trafficking occurred. “Bill Clinton went there supposedly 28 times”, said Trump, who claimed that he had even turned down Epstein’s invitations. “I never had the privilege of going to his island, and…in one of my very good moments, I did turn it down. I didn’t want to go to his island”, the US President intoned like a mantra.
The US President’s shifting narrative continues to imbue the Epstein story with fresh legs. Over the past fortnight, the Department of Justice has claimed that the Epstein client list does not exist, and therefore cannot be released to the public despite Attorney General Pam Bondi’s claim in February that it was sitting on her desk awaiting her review. Trump has claimed that documents pertaining to the Epstein case were all “made up by [former FBI Director James] Comey, they were made up by [Barack] Obama, they were made up by [Joe] Biden”, claims for which the White House has offered not a shred of evidence.
None of those claims is swaying the “Make America Great Again” faithful, many of whom are demanding complete transparency. “Do you think we’re babies? Like, what is this?” asked pro-Trump podcaster Joe Rogan, who assailed the White House for trying to “gaslight” Americans. Declaring the Epstein scandal “a line in the sand”, he mentioned the financier more than 40 times in his latest dispatch.
Andrew Schulz, another pro-Trump influencer, told his audience that the US President “is rebuking the base” by refusing to release documents that he pledged in last year’s election campaign to put into the public domain. “It’s almost like spitting in their face. They are asking for it. He campaigned on it”, he said on the Flagrant podcast. Schulz, who now appears to regret voting for Trump last year, told his audience that “the second [Trump] started talking about Obama, I was like, ‘why are you talking about Obama’”.
For the White House, difficult days lie ahead. The US President and his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, have utterly failed to persuade Americans to abandon their interest in the Epstein story. Instead, their constantly evolving stories are contributing to a growing suspicion that the US President is engaged in a cover-up.
Trump’s Deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanche, spent two days last week debriefing Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend, amid reports that she is hoping to secure a presidential pardon for sex trafficking convictions that left her serving a 20-year jail term in Florida. Trump told reporters in Scotland that he would be “allowed” to pardon Maxwell, but said it would be “inappropriate to talk about it”.
Pardoning Maxwell would be a high-stakes move, with no obvious upside for the US President. But at every turn, as he tries to damp down the story, he only succeeds in pouring more petrol on a blaze that still has the potential to consume him and convulse his administration.
