Jeffrey Epstein is dead, but the White House cannot kill his story.
According to senior administration officials and Republicans familiar with the White House ideas, President Donald Trump and his aides settled in silence as a strategy to counteract criticism of his refusal to publish a file detailing the federal government’s Epstein investigation.
For weeks, the story of Epstein, a political figure who died in a suicide awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in 2019, and his companions, has made headlines.
A break from Trump’s usual crisis communications template (emphasising the all-hand deck approach to defending him on television and social media) Epstein’s case is full of more restraint from the White House.
Trump himself shows someone close to the White House told NBC News that members of his administration don’t want to talk about nonstop. And a senior administrator who spoke about the conditions of anonymity revealed that no one in the administration is allowed to talk about Epstein.
“The Communications Office needs to be directly involved in all aspects of this,” the official said. “Every ‘I’ must be scattered, and every ‘t’ must pass through us. ”
Trump’s aides hope that the Epstein storm will pass, but they know they can’t keep Trump and other administration officials away from television as they try to promote his policy victory and agenda.
A senior administration official said White House officials would not stop appearing in the media, but that would inevitably lead to Epstein’s question. But they are still trying to determine how to balance defending Trump against the issue, whilst distracting inquiries by promoting his achievements.
It represents some kind of change in the president who generally prefers his top agent and administrative authorities, in order to stubbornly protect him to the media, regardless of the issue.
“The questions will come, but whether we will be involved is part of the consideration,” the official said.
But Trump, accustomed to driving news, finds his limited ability to anger some of his MAGA bases, consume news media, divide it into popular culture and move away from issues that mobilized dormant and split Democrats since being re-elected in November.
On Wednesday, a federal judge in Florida launched many new headlines in opposition to the Department of Justice’s demand for testimony from a large ju court sealed in the Epstein case. The Wall Street Journal, owned by Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch, reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi told Trump in May that his name would appear in the Epstein file.
“The fact is that the president kicked it. [Epstein] White House communications director Stephen Chang said in a statement. “This is just a continuation of fake news stories crafted by Democrats and the liberal media, like the Obama Russia scandal where President Trump was right,” he said.
Trump called Epstein a “great guy” in 2002, but in 2019 he said he was “old-time dropout.” He says he didn’t know what Epstein was doing.
On Tuesday, Trump accused former President Barack Obama of committing “treason” as he discovered that Russia had tried to interfere in the year’s election in support of Trump amid the heat of the 2016 campaign.
Trump made a highly accused allegation in response to a reporter’s question about Epstein, which prompted a rare responsibilities from Obama’s office. This was called “a ridiculous and weak attempt at distraction.”
White House officials hope that Trump and his administration will be fueled by accusing him of hiding information about Epstein when he was seeking presidency. Bondi raised expectations in February by committing to releasing a file that has been suited to Trump supporters for many years, telling Fox News that Epstein’s client list is “sitting at my desk now.” However, her own Justice Department said this month that there was no such “client list,” and other files remain in his administration’s hands.
Trump’s quick pivot towards the gust of other issues that energize his base included much of the uncertainty among Top Magazine influencers. Still, political operatives on both parties view the issue as hurting Trump and helping Democrats.
“Things are obviously different,” said a Republican operative who is well-versed in the White House ideas. “This blew through a little hole in the Magazine, so as we’ve seen in the past, recursive defensive modes aren’t always reliable. Part of the problem is that this is leaked to conservative media. In the past, they’ve been [White House] You can expect certain interviewers to be friendly and stay in the script. This is not guaranteed. ”
Some Democrats see this issue as the perfect means of painting Trump as an elite who protects powerful people at the expense of the public, weakening the image that was created for them as a helpless populist champion.
“It’s the first time we’ve had his A – about something in real life, it’s just a pretty, clean hit,” said Mike Nellis, a Democratic strategist who works with the 2028 candidate. “He can’t get off it.”
Neris said Epstein’s Inglorio could be part of the mid-winning and 2028 presidential message, as it threatens the Magazine’s confidence in GOP’s commitment to expose corruption. He said Vice President JD Vance, widely regarded as a leading candidate for the 2028 Republican nomination, has stopped talking about Epstein after agreeing in an interview with Maga-friendly podcaster Theo Von last year that the documents should be published. (Last week, Von posted a clip of his comment to X, writing, “Yeah, what’s changed?”)
Vance’s first post in the recent fuss came last week after the Wall Street Journal published an article about a letter containing a risqué picture that is allegedly sent Epstein for his birthday in 2003.
However, other Democrats have gone too far in front of the Epstein Files and expressed their reservations.
“I think it’s a symbol of the real lack of opportunity Dem has in this moment,” said the National Democratic strategist. “Trump is talented and it’s great to use it, but I’m happy people are.
For Republicans, it has become virtually impossible to quickly turn the pages of this story, especially since it began with an internal magazine lift.
“We don’t have enough wars and life-changing news events,” Trump’s allies said, “We don’t know what the tricks do.”
Republican leaders in Congress have at this point largely avoided the bipartisan drive to call for the release of the Epstein Files, and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has postponed his meeting room early due to the annual August boredom as Democrats forced multiple difficult votes on the topic of the committee.
They won one victory on Wednesday. Three Republicans have voted to work with Democrats on the House Oversight Subcommittee to summon the Department of Justice in the Epstein Files.
And roll calls may be inevitable in the fall, along with Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massey and California Democrat Rep. Locanna, who threatens to force files to vote on house floors in a rarely used procedural manipulation.
Kevin Olasanoe, a Democratic strategist and former executive director of the Georgia Democrats, said there are obvious considerable attempts to divert from the White House Epstein saga. In addition to Trump’s Obama’s accusations of treason, the Trump administration released the files of Pastor Martin Luther King Jr., who was assassinated in 1968, claiming that Russia had not tried to interfere in the 2016 election.
“They’re throwing everything at the wall,” he said. “This is to point out the hypocrisy of what Republicans are doing. They’re saying one thing, they’re literally open and doing another.”
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