Trump slams his own supporters as ‘weaklings’ for falling for what he now calls the Epstein ‘hoax’

By JILL COLVIN NEW YORK AP President Donald Trump is lashing out at his own supporters as he tries to clamp down on criticism over his administration s handling of much-hyped records in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking analysis which Trump now calls a Hoax Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax and my PAST supporters have bought into this bull hook line and sinker Trump wrote Wednesday on his Truth Social site using an expletive in his post They haven t learned their lesson and possibly never will even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for long years 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 promotion anymore Thank you for your attention to this matter he went on The rhetoric marks a dramatic escalation for the Republican president who has broken with certain of his the majority loyal backers in the past but never with such fervor The schism centers on his administration s handling of the Epstein who was determined dead in his New York jail cell in August weeks after his arrest on sex trafficking charges Last week the Justice Department and the FBI acknowledged that Epstein did not maintain a client list to whom underage girls were trafficked and they commented no more files related to the research would be made population despite past promises from Attorney General Pam Bondi that had raised the expectations of conservative influencers and conspiracy theorists Bondi had suggested in February such a document was sitting on her desk waiting for review Last week however she stated she had been referring generally to the Epstein situation file not a client list It s a new administration and everything is going to come out to the masses she had commented at one point Trump has since defended Bondi and chided a reporter for asking about the documents I don t understand what the interest or what the fascination is he reported Tuesday Related Articles ICE flexes authority to sharply expand detention without bond hearing Pentagon ends deployment of National Guard troops in Los Angeles What to know about Good Trouble Lives On rallies honoring John Lewis Trump tells Texas Republicans to redraw the state congressional map to help keep House majority Federal judge reverses rule that would have removed physiological debt from credit reports The blowup comes after Trump and a multitude of figures in his administration including FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy Dan Bongino have spent years stoking dark and disproved conspiracy theories including embracing QAnon-tinged propaganda that casts Trump as a savior sent to demolish the deep state Trump s comments so far have not been enough to quell those who are still demanding answers For this to go away you re going to lose of the Make America Great Again movement former adviser and Steve Bannon revealed during a gathering of young conservatives in the past few days Far-right commentator Jack Posobiec has explained he will not rest until we go full Jan committee on the Jeffrey Epstein files House Speaker Mike Johnson R-La also appeared to break with Trump calling for the Justice Department to put everything out there and let the people decide The White House and the White House unit are privy to facts that I don t know This isn t my lane I haven t been involved in that but I agree with the sentiment to put it out there Johnson reported conservative podcaster Benny Johnson