White House officials were left scrambling after a reporter straight-up asked whether Donald Trump knew if his name appeared in files connected to Jeffrey Epstein, according to Axios.
The media inquiry was posed after reports that FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino had a screaming match with Attorney General Pam Bondi over the Department of Justice’s handling of the files on the pedophile who died in 2019.
The question helped the administration figure out how badly holding back any release of the Epstein files was playing in MAGA world.
In a memo, the DOJ and FBI denied the existence of any so-called “client list” belonging to Epstein featuring potential high-profile names, and said they will not be releasing any more information regarding Epstein. The agencies also stated that the billionaire financier took his own life in his New York City jail cell, rather than being murdered, a conspiracy theory pushed for years by Trump loyalists, including Bongino.
In the wake of the Bongino-Bondi blow-up, one reporter asked if Bondi had told Trump that his name was in the Epstein files. For the first time, White House and DOJ personnel realized how bad the optics were of refusing to release more information on Epstein after multiple MAGA figures, including Trump himself, vowed to do exactly that. Officials feared it suddenly looked like they might be shielding Trump from potentially damning revelations.
“It put people in a tizzy,” an unnamed source familiar with the matter told Axios. An administration source added, “It didn’t look like a coincidence at that point” that the Trump administration had stopped releasing Epstein files.
Sources also told Axios that all of Bondi’s decisions regarding the Epstein files have been at the behest of Trump, or based on what she believes the president wants.
The Epstein files fallout has caused major splinters in the MAGA movement, with even some of Trump’s most loyal supporters turning on the president over what they see as an Epstein bait-and-switch.
Trump and Epstein were close for years, with the financier once describing Trump as his “closest friend.” There’s no evidence Trump was involved in or even aware of Epstein’s crimes, and the two reportedly fell out around 2004 over a real estate dispute.
On Tuesday, Trump denied that Bondi had informed him that he featured in the Epstein files. “No, no. She’s given us just a very quick briefing in terms of the credibility of the different things that they’ve seen,” Trump told reporters.
Trump also claimed the Epstein files were “made up” by former FBI Director James Comey, former President Barack Obama, and the Biden administration. This is despite Epstein having been arrested for sex trafficking and dying in federal custody during Trump’s first term.
Some White House staff say they don’t believe there’s anything incriminating about Trump in the Epstein files, but they’re well aware the ongoing saga is getting under his skin.
“P---ed-off Trump is no fun for anyone,” one source connected to the administration told Axios. “The president wants to talk about his accomplishments. This isn’t that.”
The White House and the DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.
