President Trump on Wednesday lambasted ’foolish Republicans’ for being duped by Democrats into focusing on deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and diverting attention from his administration’s feats.
“Some stupid Republicans and foolish Republicans fall into the net, and so they try and do the Democrats’ work,” Mr. Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with the crown prince of Bahrain.
“I call it the Epstein hoax. Takes a lot of time and effort. Instead of talking about the great achievements we’ve had … they’re wasting their time with a guy who obviously had some very serious problems, who died three, four years ago. I’d rather talk about the successes we have with the economy,” the president continued.
When asked by The Washington Times about inconsistent statements made by Attorney General Pam Bondi, Mr. Trump leaped to her defense.
In February, Ms. Bondi was asked about the Epstein client list in a Fox News interview, and she said it was on her desk awaiting her review. She later clarified she was referring to the Epstein files in general, not specifically a client list.
On July 1, Ms. Bondi told reporters the FBI was reviewing “tens of thousands of videos” of Epstein “with children or child porn,” then her Justice Department announced there was no client list or incriminating footage of the disgraced financier’s associates.
SEE ALSO: What we know about Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein
“If she finds any more credible information, she’ll give that too,” Mr. Trump said. “What more can she do than that? … And honestly, we do have bigger problems, you know.”
Such issues include prosecuting illegal immigrants and cracking down on other crimes.
Mr. Trump this week called the Epstein case “boring” even as two people who offered key endorsements of the president ramped up criticism over how his administration is handling the case.
“He’s [been] dead for a long time,” the president said. “He was never a big factor in terms of life. I don’t understand what the interest or what the fascination is, I really don’t. And the credible information’s been given.”
He said later, “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. I think only really pretty bad people, including fake news, wants to keep something like that going. But credible information — let them give it. Anything that’s credible, I would say let them have it.”
Mr. Trump also reiterated his gripe that the Epstein files are unreliable because they were overseen by Democrats, including some in the Biden Justice Department.
“Don’t forget, we went through years of the [special counsel Robert] Mueller witch hunt and all of the different things, the [Christopher] Steele dossier, which was all fake; all that information is fake,” he said.
Podcaster Joe Rogan, who offered a crucial endorsement of Mr. Trump in last year’s election, blasted the administration’s insistence that there is no client list or video footage of Epstein’s clients.
“They’ve got videotape, and all [of] a sudden they don’t. … You have the director of the FBI on this show saying, ’If there was [a videotape], nothing you’re looking for is one those tapes,” Mr. Rogan said Tuesday, referring to FBI Director Kash Patel’s interview on his show last month.
“Like what? Why’d they say there was thousands of hours of tape of people doing horrible s—-?” the podcaster said. “Why’d they say that? Didn’t Pam Bondi say that?”
Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who challenged Mr. Trump for the GOP nomination last year but later endorsed him, ripped the administration’s handling of the Epstein case.
In a series of tweets, Ms. Haley urged the Trump administration to release more information.
“Release the Epstein files and let the chips fall where they may. This is why people don’t trust the government. You can never go wrong with being transparent. Redact victims’ names, but release the rest.”
Ms. Haley later hailed Rep. Ralph Norman, South Carolina Republican, for his efforts to force a House vote to release the full Epstein files.
“Thankful for @RalphNorman for understanding the importance of transparency,” she posted.
