��ɫ��

His problem? That nothing-to-see-here approach doesn’t work for those who've learned from him they must not give up until the government’s deepest, darkest secrets are exposed.

Last week, the Justice Department and the FBI abruptly walked back the notion there's an Epstein client list of elites who participated in the wealthy New York financier’s trafficking of underage girls. Trump quickly defended Attorney General Pam Bondi and chided a reporter for daring to ask about the documents.

The online reaction was swift, with followers calling the Republican president “out of touch” and demanding transparency.

On Saturday, Trump used his Truth Social platform to again attempt to call supporters off the Epstein trail amid reports of infighting between Bondi and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino over the issue. He suggested the turmoil was undermining his administration — “all over a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein.”

That did little to mollify Trump's supporters, who urged him to release the files or risk losing his base. At least one follower responded to Trump's post by saying it seemed as though the president was just trying to make the issue go away — but assured him it wouldn't.

The political crisis is especially challenging for Trump because it’s one of his own making. The president has spent years stoking dark theories and embracing QAnon-tinged propaganda that casts him as the only savior who can demolish the “deep state."

Now that he's running the federal government, the community he helped build is coming back to haunt him. It's demanding answers he either isn’t able to or doesn't want to provide.

Asked Tuesday whether Bondi had told him his name was in the Epstein files, Trump said no. He praised her handling of the case and said she should release “whatever she thinks is credible."

But he also claimed there were credibility issues with the documents, suggesting without evidence they were “made up” by former FBI Director James Comey and former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, both Democrats. 

Bondi declined to discuss the Epstein files Tuesday during a news briefing about drug trafficking. With some high-profile members of Trump's base calling for her resignation, Bondi made clear she intends to remain attorney general.

“I’m going to be here for as long as the president wants to be here,” Bondi said. “And I believe he’s made that crystal clear.”

Asked Tuesday whether she believes Bongino should remain in his role, Bondi said only that she would not discuss personnel matters.

“The faulty assumption Trump and others make is they can peddle conspiracy theories without any blowback,” said Matt Dallek, a political scientist at George Washington University. “The Epstein case is a neat encapsulation that it is hard to put the genie back in the bottle.”

Last week’s two-page statement from the Justice Department and the FBI saying they concluded Epstein didn't possess a client list roiled Trump’s supporters, who pointed to past statements from several administration officials that the list ought to be revealed.

Bondi suggested in February such a document was sitting on her desk waiting for review, though last week she claimed she was referring generally to the Epstein case file, not a client list.

Conservative influencers since demanded to see all the files related to Epstein’s crimes, even as Trump tried to put the issue to bed.

Far-right commentator Jack Posobiec said at Turning Point USA’s Student Action Summit on Saturday he wouldn't rest “until we go full Jan. 6 committee on the Jeffrey Epstein files.”

Trump's weekend post sought to divert attention by calling on supporters to focus instead on investigating Democrats and arresting criminals rather than “spending month after month looking at nothing but the same old, Radical Left inspired Documents on Jeffrey Epstein.” His first-term national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, pleaded with him to reconsider.

“@realdonaldtrump please understand the EPSTEIN AFFAIR is not going away,” Flynn wrote.

Other Trump allies continue to push for answers, among them far-right activist Laura Loomer, who called for Bondi to resign. She told Politico’s Playbook newsletter on Sunday a special counsel should be appointed to investigate the handling of the files on Epstein, who was found dead in his federal jail cell in 2019 weeks after he was arrested.

Experts who study conspiracy theories warned more sunlight doesn't necessarily make far-fetched narratives disappear.

“For some portion of this set of conspiracy theory believers, no amount of contradictory evidence will ever be enough,” said Josephine Lukito, who studies conspiracy theorists at the University of Texas at Austin.

The president and many figures in his administration — including Bondi, Bongino and FBI Director Kash Patel — earned their political capital over the years in part by encouraging disproven conspiracy theories on a range of topics, from elections to vaccines.

Now, they’re tasked with trying to reveal the evidence they’d long insisted was there — a challenge that’s reached across the government.

As right-wing outrage over Epstein dominates the political conversation, Democrats and other Trump rivals have been taking advantage.

Several Democratic lawmakers have called for the release of all Epstein files and suggested Trump could be resisting because he or someone close to him is featured in them. Conservatives expressed concerns Trump's approach on Epstein could hurt them in the midterms.

"For this to go away, you’re going to lose 10% of the MAGA movement," right-wing podcaster Steve Bannon said during the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit on Friday.