One of the highest-ranking Republicans in the US has distanced himself from the decision of President Donald Trump's administration not to release materials in the case against the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, accused of trafficking underage girls, at a time when this issue is causing an unprecedented division among Republican voters, writes the “Washington Post“, BTA reported.
House Speaker Mike Johnson is a close ally of Trump and has never before opposed the president so publicly on an issue, the publication notes. Johnson said in an interview with right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson that he supports releasing the Epstein case files days after Trump's Justice Department announced the matter was closed, the newspaper said.
The House Speaker said Attorney General Pam Bondi "should come out and explain" the confusion she caused when she said in interviews earlier this year that Epstein's alleged "client list" was on her desk for review and hinted that it would be released, the Washington Post reported. Bondi and other Justice Department officials, however, are now arguing that the "client list" - which some of Trump's most hawkish supporters say contains the names of influential figures - is not a "public record." does not exist at all.
Trump, who recently said that the Epstein dossier was “written by Obama, Crooked Hillary, Comey, Brennan and the losers and criminals in the Biden administration,” urged his supporters to stop dealing with the case and supported Bondi’s actions on the issue, the New York Post reported.
House Democrats have seized the opportunity to attack Republicans, with Representative Ro Hanna of California on Monday adding an amendment to a bill on cryptocurrencies and national defense that would require the dossier to be disclosed to the public, the publication noted.
The dispute has caused divisions among Trump’s core supporters and threatens to shake House Republicans’ position in next year’s midterm elections, as they have a fragile majority, writes the British newspaper „Telegraph“.
Many of Trump's supporters have sharply criticized Bondi, accusing her of promising to reveal the information and saying that she either lied when she fueled expectations for the release of the files or is now hiding details, the publication notes.
Trump, who was once friends with Epstein, promised on the eve of the presidential election last year to declassify files related to the late financier, writes the newspaper „The Guardian“.
However, at a cabinet meeting this week, Trump expressed surprise that people „still talk“ for Epstein, suggesting that the president may be out of sync with his MAGA (Make America Great Again) supporters for the first time, the publication notes.
White House officials and Trump himself say that only a small but vocal segment of his supporters are upset about the Epstein dossier saga, although the outrage that MAGA supporters are expressing on social media and elsewhere is hard to ignore, the “Washington Post“ points out.
So far, support for Trump from his core supporters has been steady – they managed to secure his nomination for the 2024 presidential election after a period of political uncertainty following his 2020 loss, although some influential Republicans tried to stop him, the newspaper commented.
Now, however, as Trump returns to the White House for a second term at the head of a broader coalition – Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs, more Latino voters and black men disillusioned with liberal Democrats, and young men who have not previously participated in politics – it is not clear whether all of them will remain in the ranks of the MAGA movement if they judge that the president is not delivering on his promises, the newspaper concludes.