President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Attorney General Pam Bondi should release "everything she deems credible" about the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as he faces a rare backlash

Bondi has come under heavy criticism from Trump's political base after the Justice Department (which she heads) recently claimed there was no evidence Epstein had a "client list."

This appeared to contradict her previous statements, as well as those of other Trump allies, who had called for more information about Epstein to be revealed.

Trump came to Bondi's defense, saying he didn't understand "what the interest or fascination is" with the topic.

"She's handled it very well, and the decision is hers," he told reporters, but added that "whatever she thinks is credible, should disclose.”

When a reporter asked Trump if the attorney general had told him if his name appeared in the files, he replied, “No, no.”

In subsequent comments, the president questioned the lingering fascination with the Epstein case, calling it “sordid but boring.”

“Only the very bad people, including the Fake News, want something like this to continue,” Trump said.

During last year’s election, Trump promised to release the files related to the disgraced financier.

The topic resurfaced recently when, amid his feud with the president, Elon Musk wrote on the social media platform X: "Donald Trump is in the Epstein files. That's the real reason they haven't been made public," a message that was later deleted.

Some key Trump allies, including House Speaker Mike Johnson and the president's own daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, have publicly called for transparency.

Epstein's Death

Epstein died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His death came more than a decade after his conviction for soliciting a minor, for which he was registered as a sex offender. According to a two-page Justice Department and FBI memo released earlier this month, investigators found no "damning list" of clients and no "credible evidence" that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals. Investigators also released images they say support the conclusion that Epstein killed himself while being held at New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center. Some conspiracy theorists have long suggested that Epstein was killed to prevent him from implicating government officials, celebrities, and other moguls who were allegedly involved in the crimes.

FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, had questioned the official version of Epstein's death, but since joining the Trump administration, they have maintained that Epstein took his own life.

The memo adds that investigators "found no evidence that would justify an investigation into unindicted third parties."

However, many members of Donald Trump's Make America Great Again (MAGA) political movement continue to speculate that details of the convicted child molester's crimes, who was well-connected, have been suppressed to protect influential figures or intelligence agencies.

In recent days, Trump has expressed frustration with the obsession with Epstein and has urged everyone to move on. But some of his Republican allies aren't willing to do so.

Some of the pressure on Bondi stems from comments he made in February when a Fox News interviewer asked him about Epstein's alleged client list. “I have it on my desk right now for review,” he replied.

Bondi’s spokesman said last week that she was actually referring to the files on the matter in general.

Republican Disagreement

In an interview Tuesday with conservative commentator Benny Johnson, House Speaker Mike Johnson stressed that he trusted Trump and his team, and that the White House was aware of facts he was not.

However, he said Bondi “needs to step up and explain herself.”

“We need to put everything on the table and let the people decide.”

Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene told Benny Johnson in a separate interview, "I fully support transparency on this matter."

She praised Bondi's work as attorney general but said elected officials must keep their promises to voters.

Another conservative Republican, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, said that if more Epstein files weren't released, a special prosecutor should be appointed to investigate the mogul's crimes.

Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, meanwhile, said voters expect more accountability.

"I think it's perfectly understandable that the American people want to know who (Epstein) was selling these women to and why they weren't prosecuted," she told NBC News.

Other influential Republicans, including Senator John Thune and Congressman Jim Jordan, defended the president on the matter.

At a separate news conference Tuesday, Bondi sidestepped questions about the controversy.

“Nothing on Epstein,” he told reporters. “I’m not going to talk about Epstein.”

And he said the Justice Department memo released last week, jointly with the FBI, which opposes releasing more files on Epstein and confirms his death by suicide, “speaks for itself.”

According to the memo, the government reached its conclusions after reviewing more than 300 gigabytes of data.

On Tuesday, House Democrats unsuccessfully tried to force a vote on whether to release Epstein’s files.

Republicans noted that Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration also had access to the files, but also did not He posted.

His most loyal followers are at risk

Analysis by Anthony Zurcher, BBC correspondent in North America

Trump began a long post published on his social network Truth Social this Wednesday with a style that is already familiar: blaming the controversy surrounding the Epstein files on the "radical left Democrats."

"These deceptions and frauds are the only thing that Democrats are good at," he wrote. “They’re not good at governing, they’re not good at politics, and they’re not good at picking winning candidates.” Trump has used this kind of “us-versus-them” rhetoric before to solidify his following, portraying himself as someone fighting for the disenfranchised and disaffected, standing up to the privileged and wealthy, and now in trouble. However, that the strategy could backfire this time became clear mid-post,when he began blaming his own party and its followers for falling into a “left-wing trap.”

“My PAST followers fell for this ‘shit,’ they took the bait,” he wrote. “They haven’t learned their lesson, and they probably never will.”

Later in the Oval Office, Trump continued to blame those in his own caucus, repeating that “some stupid Republicans, some dumb Republicans, have fallen into the trap.”

The president is drawing battle lines on the Epstein issue, and they are dividing his own camp. And in doing so, he also risks undermining the foundations on which his political strength is built.

Trump's success has been driven by two core messages to his followers: that he's an outsider fighting a corrupt establishment, and that he tells it like it is.

At a time when many voters say they're tired of polished politicians with shifting opinions, Trump's base sees him as the real deal: unvarnished and controversial, yes, but honest.

Trump, who has never shied away from wild conspiracy theories or those who embrace them, now finds himself arguing that there is no "credible" evidence implicating the rich and powerful in the Epstein case and that those who think otherwise are foolish or naive.

His shifting comments – that the Epstein files should be published, that there are no files, that any possible files are hoaxes – also make him look less and less like a righteous man and more like someone with something to hide.

He faces the problem of trying to prove a negative. And for the moment, some of his supporters are not believing him.

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