US President Donald Trump on Wednesday attacked fellow Republicans critical of his administration’s handling of the case of dead sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, while sources said that the US Department of Justice had fired Maurene Comey, the eldest daughter of former FBI director James Comey and the federal prosecutor in the cases involving Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
On social media and in the Oval Office, Trump lashed out at allies he said were falling for a “hoax” pushed by Democrats, who “unlike Republicans ... stick together like glue.”
Epstein, a wealthy financier and convicted sex offender, was facing federal charges of sex-trafficking minors when he died by suicide in jail in 2019. He had pleaded not guilty, and the case was dismissed after his death.
Photo: AFP
Some of Trump’s most loyal followers were enraged when the Trump administration last week reversed course on its pledge to release documents it had suggested contained major revelations about Epstein and his alleged clientele.
“It’s all been a big hoax,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “It’s perpetrated by the Democrats and some stupid Republicans, and foolish Republicans fall into the net and so they try and do the Democrats’ work.”
On Truth Social earlier in the day, Trump said of Republicans raising concerns about the case: “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!”
The backlash over the Epstein case has laid bare tensions inside Trump’s coalition and is testing one of Trump’s most enduring political strengths: his ability to command loyalty and control the narrative across the right.
A former Trump adviser, Mike Flynn, on Wednesday wrote on X that the matter was not a hoax.
“With my strongest recommendation, please gather your team and figure out a way to move past this,” he said.
The justice department last week concluded there was “no incriminating client list” or any evidence that Epstein might have blackmailed prominent people. The review also confirmed prior findings by the FBI that Epstein killed himself in his jail cell while awaiting trial, and that his death was not the result of a criminal act such as murder.
The findings contradicted earlier suggestions — made before Trump’s inauguration in January by current Trump administration officials Dan Bongino and Kash Patel — that the government was concealing key information about the Epstein case. A February comment by US Attorney General Pam Bondi, which she later clarified, further amplified the speculation.
In the past few weeks, the rumors have gained traction as conservative influencers and media figures have continued to promote the idea of hidden bombshell disclosures.
Some Republicans in the US House of Representatives, including Speaker Mike Johnson, have called for the justice department to release more Epstein documents, but Republicans have blocked efforts by Democratic lawmakers to push measures that would force the agency to make those documents public.
Trump, who knew Epstein socially in the 1990s and early 2000s, on Wednesday again defended Bondi’s handling of the matter and said she could release any credible documents related to the case.
“Whatever’s credible, she can release,” he told reporters. “If a document’s there that’s credible, she can release. I think it’s good.”
Meanwhile, Maurene Comey, who was an assistant US attorney in Manhattan, was not provided an explanation for her firing, two sources said, asking not to be identified.
She successfully prosecuted Maxwell, a British socialite and associate of Epstein. Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022 for helping accused sex offender and globetrotting financier Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls.
The justice department has been firing prosecutors who have worked on cases involving Trump or his political allies.
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