President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Republicans fixated on Jeffrey Epstein are getting ‘duped’ by Democrats, further defending Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of the case.
During an Oval Office meeting with the crown prince and prime minister of Bahrain, Trump said his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, reversed his first-term energy policies, leading to higher inflation.
‘What Biden did is he ended our policies,’ Trump told reporters. ‘He doesn’t have a policy. Some lunatic around the desk had a policy. Whoever operated the autopen had a policy which is, by the way, I think the biggest scandals – that’s the scandal they should be talking about, not Jeffrey Epstein, the scandal you should be talking about is the autopen because I think it’s the biggest scandal, one of them, in American history.’
In early June, Trump directed Bondi and the White House counsel to investigate whether Biden’s aides used an autopen to sign official documents – such as pardons, executive orders, and judicial appointments – without his personal awareness. Biden has denied the claim. The House Oversight Committee is also investigating the conspiracy and has issued letters and subpoenas for testimony from several former White House aides, as well as Biden’s former White House physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor.
Trump said Wednesday that Bondi could release ‘whatever’s credible’ related to the Epstein case before addressing Republican infighting about what some categorize as an about-face on transparency by the administration.
‘He’s dead. He’s gone,’ Trump said of Epstein. ‘And, all it is, is the Republicans, certain Republicans got duped by the Democrats, and they’re following a Democrat playbook and no different than Russia, Russia, Russia and all the other hoaxes.’
Trump said he couldn’t speak to FBI Director Kash Patel’s comments on the case but further defended Bondi.
‘I really think that she’s done very good. She says, ‘I gave you all the credible information,’ and if she finds any more credible information, she’ll give that too. What more can she do than that?’ Trump said. ‘I mean, honestly, what more can she do?’
His comments come after FBI deputy director Dan Bongino reportedly had a heated argument with Bondi over the Epstein case last week and took a day off from the job to cool down, sources previously told Fox News.
A growing list of Republicans have demanded greater transparency from the Justice Department on the case. Trump earlier Wednesday said on social media that Democrats had come up with another ‘hoax,’ this time on Epstein, after previously being responsible for the widely discredited ‘Steele dossier’ during the Trump-Russia probe, as well as the cover-up of Hunter Biden’s laptop story ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
‘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 on TRUTH Social. ‘They haven’t learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 long years.’
In the Oval Office, Trump said the Justice Department, and administration more broadly, are dealing with ‘bigger problems.’
‘We have problems with millions of illegal people that came in here, and they’re killers and murderers. We have 11,888 murderers that were allowed into our country by Biden. Sleepy Joe Biden, stupid Joe Biden, he allowed them into our country. And you know what we got to do something about? She’s got a lot of things she’s working on,’ Trump said. ‘It’s very sad that somebody can be waylaid, just get waylaid… I think she’s doing a great job.’
Trump said he has ‘lost faith’ in certain people in his own party regarding the Epstein case.
‘I lost that because they got duped by the Democrats. The Democrats are good for nothing. They’ve done a terrible job. They almost destroyed our country,’ Trump said, championing how the passage of his ‘big, beautiful bill’ ensures ‘the biggest tax cut in history’ and the ‘biggest regulation cuts in history.’
‘These are the things that they should be talking about,’ Trump said. ‘The ‘big beautiful bill’ is one of the greatest pieces of legislation ever in this country, and the Democrats have nothing to combat it.’