Posted by Alumni from The Atlantic
July 19, 2025
As the questions surrounding Jeffrey Epstein's life and death'questions that Donald Trump once helped whip up'tornadoed into their bajillionth news cycle, the president's team began to privately debate ways to calm the furor: appoint a special counsel to investigate. Call on the courts to unseal documents related to the case. Have Attorney General Pam Bondi hold a news conference. Hold daily news conferences on the topic, a la Trump's regular prime-time pandemic appearances. Trump was annoyed by the constant questions from reporters'had Bondi told him that his name, in fact, was in the Epstein files' ('No,' came his response)'and frustrated by his inability to redirect the nation's attention to what he views as his successes, four White House officials and a close outside adviser told us. But more than that, Trump felt deeply betrayed by his MAGA supporters, who had believed him when he'd intimated that something was nefarious about how the Epstein case has been handled, and who now... learn more