‘POTUS is clearly furious’: White House is frustrated by all-consuming Epstein coverage
"Officials and allies close to the White House detail the mood inside an administration haunted by a notorious sex offender who died by suicide nearly six years ago.
Trump and his closest allies thought they’d spend the summer taking a well-earned victory lap, having coaxed Congress into passing the megabill, bullied foreign governments into a slew of new trade arrangements, convinced NATO allies to spend billions more on collective defense and pressed world leaders to bow to various other demands from Doha to The Hague.
“POTUS is clearly furious,” said a person close to the White House, who, like others in this story, was granted anonymity to discuss the mood inside the West Wing. “It’s the first time I’ve seen them sort of paralyzed.”
A senior White House official told POLITICO the president is frustrated with his staff’s inability to tamp down conspiracy theories they once spread and by the wall of media coverage that started when Attorney General Pam Bondi released information from the Epstein case that was already in the public domain.
“He feels there are way bigger stories that deserve attention,” the senior White House official said.
After the Bondi release, voices on the MAGA right from Steve Bannon to Laura Loomer criticized the Trump administration for its handling of the controversy, warning it threatened to “consume his presidency.” Then last week The Wall Street Journal published a story alleging Trump sent Epstein a lewd birthday message. The president has denied sending the letter and filed a defamation suit against the paper.
The frustration stems, in part, from an understanding that this is “a vulnerability,” said a White House ally. Trump has famously had his finger on the pulse of the Republican base for more than a decade but has, for now, lost the ability to dominate the narrative. That threatens to undermine the momentum and sense of invincibility the GOP felt at the beginning of the month when they were getting ready to boast about a slew of new tax cuts and border funding as their opening pitch to voters ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Many of these errors are unforced — resulting from hyped up accusations from Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel — which is fueling the indignation inside the White House.
“They’re the ones that opened the can of worms on the Epstein conversation. No one made them do this, which makes it sting even worse,” the ally said.
Trump has tried to refocus the narrative, repeatedly touting the nation’s economic strength and accusing former President Barack Obama of treason. On Tuesday, Trump announced what he called “the biggest deal ever made” with Japan, the United States’ fifth-largest trading partner in 2024. Trump also announced deals with the Philippines and Indonesia.
“When you’re working 12 to 15 hours a day to solve real problems and you turn on the TV and see people talking about Jeffrey Epstein, that’s frustrating. That’s where the president’s mindset is,” the senior White House official said.
Even as the president talks trade and treason, the Department of Justice is working to put Epstein inquiries to rest, petitioning for the release of grand jury files and potentially meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s co-conspirator who is serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for child sex trafficking and other crimes.
Trump on Tuesday claimed he “didn’t know” what the Justice Department was doing.
“They would like to move on and talk about the things they think are Ws,” said the White House ally. “They are really annoyed that it’s an overshadowing news cycle.”
But there are plenty — from sections of Trump’s base who’ve long believed the government protects rich and powerful people who participate in heinous crimes like Epstein’s sexual abuse underage girls to Democrats gleefully seizing on the saga — who continue to devour the coverage.
And that’s putting Republican leaders on the Hill in a bind as they balance their loyalty to the president against their own fears of the base turning on them.
House Republicans canceled several votes this week as leadership struggled to contain the ire from lawmakers demanding the Justice Department release files related to Epstein.
The Rules Committee delayed meeting out of fear they’d be forced to vote on the Epstein files.
“House members are worried and it’s screwing up the schedule,” said the person close to the White House. “There have been points of significant pushback behind the scenes where the House has rolled over. But now the Rules Committee rebelled against the speaker over something POTUS finds embarrassing. It’s a big ass deal. You’re looking at a straight congressional rebellion.”
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