The Epstein files are increasingly a wedge that is driving apart factions among Trump’s supporters fighting over the economy and Gaza, argues Chris Bambery

The biggest challenge the US President faces is growing revelations about his involvement with late sex offender and paedophile, Jeffrey Epstein, and his jailed partner, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Earlier this year, in May, US Attorney General Pam Bondi told President Donald Trump that his name appeared in investigative files related to Epstein. Trump dismissed all this as ‘fake news’ and has sought to divert attention by alleging prominent Democrats were involved with Epstein. However, in a poll carried out in August, more than two thirds of Americans believe the Trump administration is hiding information about Epstein’s clients.

On Tuesday last week, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released three bombshells from Epstein that raise questions on what Trump knew about Epstein and Maxwell’s activities. Epstein wrote that President Trump had ‘spent hours at my house’ with one of Mr. Epstein’s victims. Trump has always denied any personal wrongdoing or knowledge of Epstein’s crimes before his conviction, claiming he threw Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida over his behaviour.

However, the fact remains that Trump and Epstein were friends in the 1990s and early 2000s. Their relationship appeared to fizzle out around 2004. Epstein claimed it was over a property deal. Pictures of the two men together are all over social media.

One of the email chains is from 15/16 December 2015 between Epstein and US journalist, Michael Wolff. One section reads:

‘Wolff: I hear CNN planning to ask Trump tonight about his relationship with you—either on air or in scrum afterwards.

Epstein: if we were able to craft an answer for him, what do you think it should be?

Wolff: I think you should let him hang himself. If he says he hasn’t been on the plane or to the house, then that gives you a valuable PR and political currency. You can hang him in a way that potentially generates a positive benefit for you, or, if it really looks like he could win, you could save him, generating a debt. Of course, it is possible that, when asked, he’ll say Jeffrey is a great guy and has gotten a raw deal and is a victim of political correctness, which is to be outlawed in a Trump regime.’

Next week will see a vote in the US House of Representatives on whether the files held by the US Justice Department on Jeffrey Epstein should be released. House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Wednesday he would put a bipartisan bill that compels the release of the files to a House vote within the coming days.

Four Republican rebels signed a discharge petition that requires a vote: Representatives Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Nancy Mace of South Carolina, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. Greene posted on X on Thursday: ‘The Epstein files MUST be released! Every name, every page, every connection.’ Trump and officials in his administration have reportedly reached out to Boebert and Mace to ask them to remove their names from the petition.

Feuding radical right

Democratic Representative, James Clyburn, posted on Friday that newly released documents show former financier Jeffrey Epstein told associates that Trump spent hours at his home with a victim of sex trafficking. In a post on X, Clyburn rejected Trump’s recent claims that the controversy surrounding Epstein was a ‘hoax’, writing that ‘Americans want answers about Trump’s connection to Epstein.’

Whatever happens on Wednesday, and Trump is lobbying hard to stop Republican representatives voting for the release of the files, his biggest problem is the growing anger over this issue in his Maga (Make America Great Again) base, particularly among young, male Trump supporters who get their news from social media and right-wing podcasters.

Epstein died by suicide in 2019 in a Manhattan jail cell. However, right-wing conspiracy theorists have alleged that Epstein was murdered because he possessed sexually compromising material on powerful figures and a ‘client list’. Two of Trump’s team have become particular hate figures for the Maga base, FBI Director, Kash Patel, and Attorney General, Pam Bondi. Both promised during the presidential election campaign that the Epstein files would be released, to cheers from the Maga base.

Both are strongly pro-Israel. In 2018, Bondi proclaimed from Jerusalem, where she was attending the opening of the new US embassy in the city that: ‘Israel is one of if not our greatest ally in the world. I’m so proud of what happened today, I’ve been to Israel twice as Attorney General (of Florida) and Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.’ Kash posted on X, after Trump’s election win: ‘When we are back in power with President Trump We will be standing side-by-side with Israel. We will shut off the machinery that feeds money into Iran. We will no longer have 100 hostages still in captivity Israeli and American. We need America to wake up and prioritize Israel. Bring home Americans and Israelis (hostages) and make sure we stand by our number one ally Israel.’

Once in office, Bondi was asked by Fox News host John Roberts whether her department would release a list of Epstein’s clients. She said, ‘It’s sitting on my desk right now to review.’ In 2023, Patel, addressing the then-leaders of the FBI, said on a YouTube show, ‘Put on your big boy pants and let us know who the paedophiles are.’

Then, in July this year, a joint memo from both the Department of Justice and the FBI claimed: ‘This systematic review revealed no incriminating “client list”. There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions. We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.’ The memo also said that Epstein had committed suicide. The Maga base reacted with fury to this, blaming Bondi and Patel.

The right-wing podcaster, Tucker Carlson, argued the files were not being released because they would reveal Trump’s connections to US and Israeli secret intelligence: ‘The only other explanation that I can think of, again, maybe you’ve got another, is that intel services are at the very center of this story, U.S. and Israeli, and they’re being protected. I think that seems like the most obvious.’

Trump immediately rode to the defence of Bondi, claiming ‘nobody cares about’ Epstein, In a nearly 400-word post on Truth Social. He wrote: ‘What’s going on with my “boys” and, in some cases, “gals?” They’re all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! We’re on one Team, MAGA, and I don’t like what’s happening.’

Built on shifting sands

Today, Patel is extremely unpopular, with an approval rating of just 26%. Among Maga supporters there is growing dissatisfaction with the FBI’s handling of the Epstein Files and the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Regarding the latter, a common view in the Maga base is that the FBI’s claim Kirk was killed by a lone shooter is untrue and is a cover up for a killing in which, they claim, Mossad was involved because Kirk had broken links with Zionist funders over Gaza.

Patel’s partner, Alexis Wilkins, is suing podcasters and influencers who have claimed she worked for Mossad, Israel‘s national intelligence agency. Wilkins is a country-music singer, podcaster and conservative political commentator. Among those she has taken out a defamation lawsuit against is Kyle Seraphin, the former FBI agent who is now a podcaster with over 230,000 followers on X. Wilkins has taken legal action over his claim she is a ‘former Mossad agent’. Another she has sued is conservative influencer Elijah Schaffer. Schaffer is the CEO of Rift TV and has over 840,000 followers on X.

One of the main reasons behind this conspiracy theory is Wilkins is a presenter for a podcast PragerU whose CEO, Marissa Sreit, served in the Israel Defense Force’s Unit 8200, an Intelligence Corps unit responsible for clandestine operations, collecting signal intelligence and code decryption, counterintelligence, cyberwarfare, military intelligence, and surveillance.

Whatever the outcome of Wednesday’s vote, the issue won’t go away. If the House votes not to release the files, many Trump supporters will see that as a cover up. If it does, they will not make pleasant reading.

The divisions in the Maga base are out in the open too. On Friday, Trump announced that he is withdrawing his support and endorsement of Marjorie Taylor Greene, a longtime ally and previously a fierce defender of the president.

Trump posted on Truth Social on Friday evening. ‘I am withdrawing my support and endorsement of “Congresswoman” Marjorie Taylor Greene, of the great state of Georgia, All I see “Wacky” Marjorie do is COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN!’

Taylor Greene is a right-wing Christian nationalist with repellent positions on Islam, LGBT rights and much more. Nonetheless, in July this year, she described what was happening in Gaza as a ‘genocide’. She reflects the views of the Maga base.

She has said Trump should not be trying to stop the release of the Epstein files when rising costs in the US are making it difficult for even the president’s own supporters to pay their bills. ‘It’s insanely the wrong direction to go. The five-alarm fire is healthcare and affordability for Americans. And that’s where the focus should be. Releasing the Epstein files is the easiest thing in the world. Just release it all. Let the American people sort through every bit of it, and, you know, support the victims. That’s just like the most common sense, easiest thing in the world. But to spend any effort trying to stop it makes – it just doesn’t make sense to me.’

She criticises the White House for its plans to send ‘billions of dollars’ in weapons to Ukraine. Many Maga supporters believed Trump would be loyal to his promise to bring jobs back to the USA. Instead, growing numbers believe he is pursuing an ‘Israel First’ policy not an ‘America First’ one.

Politically, the Maga base has nowhere else to go but that hasn’t stopped rising discontent with the administration. It should be remembered that some were pulled by Bernie Sanders when he sought the Democratic nomination for president. So, if, and its a big if, more Democrats such as New York City Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, were to stand, they could make inroads there.

The swing against Israel within the Maga base is accompanied by conspiracy theories which are often genuinely antisemitic. This should be a reminder to Zionists seeking the support of the likes of Tommy Robinson that anti-semitism is in the DNA of the far right. While they might agree Islam is the main enemy, future political shifts can easily see that antisemitism suddenly revealing itself.

That’s a warning I am sure will be ignored.