Trump blasts supporters as ‘weaklings’ for believing Jeffrey Epstein 'hoax’

U.S. President Donald Trump has called his supporters “weaklings” for wanting more transparency in his administration’s inquiry into the case of convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, dismissing the controversy as a “hoax”.

“These Scams and Hoaxes are all the Democrats are good at - It’s all they have - They are no good at governing, no good at policy, and no good at picking winning candidates. Also, unlike Republicans, they stick together like glue,” he posted on Truth Social on Jul. 16.

He had compared the ongoing backlash related to the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) handling of Epstein’s case to past controversies he deemed as “fake”, including a discredited dossier probing his 2016 campaign’s possible ties to Russia.

Called his own supporters “weaklings”

Trump proceeded to criticise some of his supporters for falling for what he called a hoax by the “radical left”

“Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this 'bullshit,' hook, line, and sinker,” he said.

“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!”

Accused of a cover-up

Trump’s latest remark comes amid a struggle to quell accusations of a cover-up by his administration, some of which come from his own Make America Great Again (MAGA) base.

According to a YouGov poll published on Jul. 16, two-thirds of Americans think the government is covering up evidence it has about the Epstein case, including 82 per cent of Democrats, 69 per cent of Independents and 50 per cent of Republicans.

The uproar surrounds a memo released by the DOJ on Jul. 7.

It stated that the department found no evidence that the deceased Epstein had a “client list” of prominent figures involved in his exploitation of underage girls, nor that he had blackmailed them.

The American billionaire financier, found dead in his jail cell in 2019 after being charged with sex trafficking minors, was also theorised to have been murdered to conceal the alleged “client list”. However, the DOJ deemed his death a suicide.

“I don’t understand why they would be so interested”

Previously, Trump tried to divert attention by dismissing the inquiry as “boring”, but said he supported the release of any “credible” information.

“I don’t understand why (my supporters) would be so interested,” he said. “It’s pretty boring stuff. It’s sorted, but it’s boring.”

He added that “only pretty bad people, including fake news, want to keep something like that going. But credible information, let them give it. Anything that is credible, I would say, let them have it.”

The ongoing suspicions surrounding Epstein’s case have been partly fuelled by a statement U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi made in February.

When asked if the DOJ will be releasing the list of Epstein’s alleged clients, she told Fox News that it was “sitting on (her) desk right now to review", though she clarified to reporters after the memo’s release that she had been referring to the entire Epstein file and other files.

Trump is also not entirely blameless for the paranoia among his supporters. During his election campaigns, he backed several conspiracy theories, including one that “deep state” elites were working against his administration, The Guardian observed.

Fractures in his own faction

While the president has made similar us-against-them arguments in the past, he appears to have turned on his own party this time around, blaming them for believing a so-called “scam” by the left.

As observed by the BBC, his latest strategy to diffuse tensions may inadvertently put him and some of his most devoted supporters on opposing sides.

In an interview with far-right television channel Real America’s Voice, he echoed his latest remarks.

“I think they could look at all of it. It’s all the same scam. They could look into the Jeffrey Epstein hoax also, because that’s the same stuff, that’s all put out by Democrats,” he said.

He added, “And you know some of the naive Republicans fall right into line.”

Top image via The White House/Instagram