CNN
—
President Donald Trump on Tuesday shrugged off questions around a new Justice Department memo about accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, calling them “a desecration.”
“Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy’s been talked about for years,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting after a reporter directed a question to Attorney General Pam Bondi, who’s been the subject of MAGA blowback after the Justice Department said on Monday there is no evidence Epstein kept a “client list” or was murdered.
“You’re asking – we have Texas, we have this, we have all of the things, and are people still talking about this guy? This creep? That is unbelievable,” Trump said, referring to the devastating flooding in Texas. “I mean, I can’t believe you’re asking a question on Epstein at a time like this, where we’re having some of the greatest success and also tragedy with what happened in Texas. It just seems like a desecration.”
Trump’s MAGA allies have for years sought evidence of an alleged Epstein “client list” potentially tying influential figures to the deceased former financier’s crimes.
After being confirmed as attorney general earlier this year, Bondi quickly embraced those theories. When asked about a client list in a February interview on Fox News, she said it was “sitting on my desk right now to review.”
Far-right activist Laura Loomer, who has demonstrated influence with the Trump administration and has frequently criticized Bondi over her handling of the Epstein investigation, called for Trump to fire the attorney general, writing on X Monday: “If she doesn’t get fired over this Epstein memo, people are going to be so black pilled.”
And Elon Musk, a former Trump ally who previously alleged that the administration is withholding files on the Epstein case because Trump’s name appears in them, asked Tuesday afternoon on X: “How can people be expected to have faith in Trump if he won’t release the Epstein files?”
Bondi, who attended the Cabinet meeting, attempted on Tuesday to clarify her February remarks, echoing White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s argument the day before that the attorney general had been referring to the “entirety of all of the paperwork” related to Epstein.
“I did an interview on Fox, and it’s been getting a lot of attention because I said I was asked a question about the client list, and my response was, it’s sitting on my desk to be reviewed — meaning the file, along with the JFK, MLK files as well. That’s what I meant by that,” Bondi said.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
