Updated July 16, 2025 at 3:14 PM CDT
President Trump continues to be embroiled in the backlash to the Justice Department's handling of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein.
On Wednesday he assailed members of his own party who have been calling for more transparency into the DOJ's investigation of the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender, whose death by suicide in prison in 2019 has sparked numerous conspiracy theories. And he, without evidence, claimed the case was a "hoax."
Trump's Justice Department said last week that no additional documents from the investigation into Epstein's death would be made public and denied the existence of a "client list," which riled up Trump's base. Trump had said during the election last year that he would want to make files related to Epstein's death public.
In a post to Truth Social, his social media website, and to reporters on Wednesday, Trump lashed out at Democrats, and some of his own supporters.
"Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax," Trump said of Democrats, doubling down on a baseless conspiracy that the so-called files were created by Democrats to go after him.
He also called it bull**** that his "past" supporters had bought into it "hook, line, and sinker."
"Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don't even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don't want their support anymore!" Trump said.
Speaking at the White House later, Trump said Republicans who disagree with him on this issue are "stupid" and "foolish."
"Instead of talking about the things we've achieved -- we've had tremendous achievement -- they're wasting their time with a guy who obviously had some very serious problems who died three, four years ago," Trump said. He told reporters he'd rather talk about his administration's legislative and investment successes, before attacking Democrats on immigration policies he said allowed "gang members, jailbirds from all over the world" to come to the U.S. "They all came in and I'm doing something about it," Trump said.
Prominent Republicans like House Speaker Mike Johnson and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene have called for more transparency on the Epstein case. Conservative "MAGA" voices like Tucker Carlson and Laura Loomer have also been critical of the Justice Department's handling of the case.
Trump has been insistent in recent days that his supporters should let go of the issue and "not waste time and energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that no one cares about," as he said on social media over the weekend.
He has also consistently backed Bondi's handling of the case. On Wednesday, when asked if he still had faith in leadership at DOJ and FBI, Trump responded, "totally." And when asked about appointing a special prosecutor to the files, Trump said, "I have nothing to do with it."
Trump's message that supporters should forget about Epstein is not sitting well with some in the MAGA movement who feel betrayed.
For many conspiracy theorists, Epstein's story is a striking example of the core QAnon belief that a Satanic cabal of pedophiles is entrenched among the world's most powerful people and that Trump is destined to defeat that cabal.
Trump and other administration officials have in the past embraced some of those ideas. Now, people who have bought into this conspiratorial world view are grappling with how to make sense of the administration's backtracking on its promises to release more information.
"It's trying to reconcile two things that both cannot be true at the same time and finding a way to make both of them true," said Mike Rothschild, a journalist and author who focuses on conspiracy theories.
Shannon Bond and Stephen Fowler contributed to this story.
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