In a detailed post on his Truth Social platform Wednesday, former President Donald Trump strongly condemned parts of his own supporter base for buying into Democratic “bulls***” concerning what he labeled the “Jeffrey Epstein Hoax.”
“Their latest scheme is what we will always refer to as the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my former supporters have fallen for this ‘bulls***,’ completely,” Trump posted on his social media outlet. “They have not learned from their mistakes and likely never will, despite being deceived by the Lunatic Left for eight whole years.”
This statement from Trump, which equated the Epstein issue with previous conflicts like the Steele dossier, the 2016 Russia investigation, and Hunter Biden’s laptop, arrives as the White House works to calm agitation within conservative groups.
A Justice Department analysis published last week reported no hidden “client list” and confirmed Epstein’s 2019 death was a suicide, findings that numerous right-wing commentators have refused to accept.
Comparable comments made by Trump over the weekend ignited instant negative feedback from his online followers, leading to his first “ratioed” post on Truth Social. A post is considered “ratioed” when it garners a much larger amount of negative interaction, like replies, than positive engagement, such as likes, indicating significant disapproval from the audience.
As of 11 a.m. ET, Wednesday’s post had avoided being ratioed, but many of the responses came from individuals showing surprise and incredulity at Trump’s statements.
This most recent reprimand of MAGA supporters also follows the blocking of a vote by House Republicans to release the Epstein files, a move that attracted broad condemnation and sparked conjecture about political loyalties and openness within the GOP.
Trump’s connection to Epstein extends from the social circles of Palm Beach in the late 1980s to the early 2000s. He has faced no accusations of being involved in Epstein’s criminal acts.
A 2002 profile in New York magazine quoted Trump calling Epstein “a terrific guy,” and noting that he “likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them on the younger side.”
Flight records unsealed by a court indicate Trump traveled on Epstein’s plane at least seven times, which included a flight on January 5, 1997, from Palm Beach to Newark, as well as multiple trips between Florida and New York from 1993 to 1995. In separate documents from 2019, it was revealed that Ghislaine Maxwell recruited 16-year-old Virginia Giuffre for Epstein from her job at the spa within Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in 2000.
The former president has not been implicated in any of Maxwell’s criminal activities.
Vanity Fair reported that the friendship between Trump and Epstein deteriorated after they competed to buy a Palm Beach mansion in 2004. By 2019, Trump was distancing himself, telling reporters he only knew Epstein because “everybody in Palm Beach” did. He added, “I had a falling out with him. I haven’t spoken to him in 15 years. I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you.”
Epstein, a rich financier who became a serial sex offender, first came under investigation by Palm Beach police in 2005 following reports of abusing underage girls, with some victims as young as 14. He entered a guilty plea in 2008 to two state charges of procuring a minor for prostitution and solicitation, which resulted in a controversial plea bargain that he mostly served in a county jail with work-release benefits.
He was arrested on July 6, 2019, by federal prosecutors in New York, who charged him with sex trafficking minors between New York and Florida, claiming he operated a “network” that recruited and abused underage girls.
The 2019 federal charges against Epstein were unresolved at the time of his death that August. His sole conviction was from the 2008 case in Florida for two counts of soliciting a minor and child prostitution. That conviction came from a contentious plea deal that let him evade a lengthy prison sentence and kept many of his supposed victims unaware of the situation.
He faced dozens of civil lawsuits that resulted in many settlements, but he was not criminally convicted of any other charges before he died.
In the U.S. Virgin Islands, Epstein owned a private island named Little Saint James, which was frequently called “Epstein Island” in media and legal documents. The property was described in federal investigations and court records as a primary site for Epstein’s supposed sex trafficking activities, with many victims claiming they were abused there over a period of years.
In 2019, searches of the island revealed evidence that supported the claims of victims and witnesses, which further implicated Epstein’s employees and network. The island continues to be a main point of focus for ongoing civil lawsuits and public attention, as American authorities and reporters investigate the full scope of his crimes and associations.
When speaking with a reporter on Tuesday, former President Donald Trump stated: “I don’t understand what the interest or what the fascination is. I really don’t. I don’t understand why the Jeffrey Epstein case would be of interest to anybody. It’s pretty boring stuff, it’s sordid, but it’s boring. And I don’t understand why it keeps going.”
Mark Shanahan, a professor of American politics at the University of Surrey, had previously commented to Newsweek, “The Epstein backlash has the potential to cause significant harm to Trump and will likely be the biggest reason for his recent drop in the polls. For the MAGA base, releasing the Epstein Files is the ultimate goal.”
The deadlock in Congress concerning the Epstein files is still ongoing, and House Republicans are experiencing renewed pressure for complete transparency. At the time of this report, no new vote has been scheduled.
Trump’s separation from disagreeing groups within his base may indicate a permanent change in MAGA political dynamics as the discussion about the Epstein case and its wide-ranging consequences evolves.