17-7-2025
US President Donald Trump has labelled many of his own Republican supporters as “stupid” and “weaklings” for what he describes as the “Jeffrey Epstein hoax”.
Mr Trump’s often-loyal supporters have been split over the FBI and Justice Department’s decision not to release further documents about accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
The Epstein “client list”, which the FBI says does not exist, has been a central theme of conspiracies around the former financier’s alleged clientele.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump labelled the furore around the so-called Epstein files a “SCAM” and said his “PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bullshit'”.
It comes amid a growing rift within his Make America Great Again (MAGA) Republican coalition over the Epstein files and a “client list” that the FBI last week announced did not exist.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) last week announced it would not release any further documents related to Epstein or his suicide in a New York jail cell.
Claiming the Democrats were peddling “fake news”, Mr Trump lashed out at Republicans, writing: “I have had more success in 6 months than perhaps any President in our Country’s history, and all these people want to talk about, with strong prodding by the Fake News and the success starved Dems, is the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax.
“Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore!”
He later told reporters those calling for the release of the files were “some stupid Republicans” and “wasting their time”.
The justice department also said that Epstein did not maintain a “client list” to whom underage girls were trafficked.
The “client list” has been the central pillar of a number of conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein, and senior members of Mr Trump’s administration, including Attorney-General Pam Bondi, had previously promised to release it.
Mr Trump has been under pressure over the issue, with the saga threatening to undermine the loyal support he receives from the MAGA base of the Republican Party.
A number of high-profile conservative influencers have also criticised the FBI’s statement and the attorney-general’s response, but the president has so far backed Ms Bondi.