Trump Supporters' Reaction to Epstein Files Leak

The Wall Street Journal and Other Outlets Confirm Trump’s Involvement in Epstein Files

The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, with other news outlets confirming what many had already suspected: Donald Trump appears to be uneasy about the ongoing focus on his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. This concern comes as his administration previously attempted to close the case on the alleged sex trafficker and urged people to move on earlier this month.

According to the Journal, citing senior officials, the Justice Department informed the President at a meeting in the White House that his name was in the Epstein files. Sources also shared similar information with the New York The News Pulses and CNN, among other media outlets.

After years of allies, including officials who would later join Trump’s second-term administration, promoting conspiracy theories that past governments had suppressed incriminating Epstein-related evidence, including a supposed “client list,” the Justice Department announced in early July that it did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties. It also stated that no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.

This announcement shocked the MAGA world, infuriating many of Trump’s supporters and frustrating him personally. He has repeatedly called the matter a “hoax” and “witch hunt,” attempting to divert attention from it by baselessly accusing former President Barack Obama of treason.

Even before the latest report, Democrats had openly questioned whether the White House had moved to prevent the declassification and public release of the full Epstein files because they implicated President Trump. They also questioned whether the massive redaction efforts and withholding of the files were intended to shield him from embarrassing revelations within those files.

Trump’s former ally turned critic Elon Musk raised eyebrows when he said shortly after leaving the administration in late May that Trump “is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public.” This statement was later deleted from his social media account.

In response to the Journal’s latest report, White House communications director Steven Cheung called the story “nothing more than a continuation of the fake news stories concocted by the Democrats and the liberal media.” Trump is currently suing the Journal over a report last week that claimed Epstein received a lewd birthday drawing from Trump in 2003, which Trump denies.

Reactions from Supporters and Critics

Being in the Epstein files isn’t necessarily bad, according to pro-Trump influencer Joey Mannarino, who posted on X: “Epstein was a member of Mar-A-Lago for years until Trump threw him out. Of course there will be incidental mentions of Trump.”

Longtime Epstein reporter Julie K. Brown echoed this sentiment, stating that Trump’s name was on Epstein’s plane logs, his “black book” phone directory, and phone message pads seized by police from Epstein’s Palm Beach home in 2005. These details have long been part of the federal investigation into Epstein.

However, some critics have pointed out the hypocrisy from Trump supporters, including Mannarino, who previously anticipated that the release of Epstein-related files would reveal high-profile Democrats linked to Epstein. Earlier this year, Mannarino had posted: “The Epstein Files come tomorrow. Any living people on that list should immediately be jailed.”

Others have noted that being named in the Epstein files may not be incriminating, but it’s certainly not exculpatory either.

Right-Wing Media and Conspiracy Theories

Right-wing media personality Mike Cernovich, who received a binder of supposed Epstein files from the White House in February, posted on X: “Epstein kept a book of phone numbers, as many of his era did, which included Trump family members and other randoms.”

YouTuber Matt Christiansen downplayed the revelation of Trump’s existence in the Epstein files as a “necessary conclusion” from knowledge of their already public relationship, especially after the Journal released its report on Trump’s birthday letter.

Some conspiracy theorists suggested that the news of Trump’s name in the Epstein files is part of a Democratic-led conspiracy to distract from the Trump Administration’s efforts to prosecute Obama and his former officials. Trump himself previously said as much in a post on Truth Social, claiming that people are “giving publicity to Files written by Obama, Crooked Hillary, Comey, Brennan, and the Losers and Criminals of the Biden Administration.”

Infowars founder Alex Jones claimed in a video on X that “the Democrats control” the FBI’s files related to Epstein and “of course there’s going to be mentions of Donald Trump.” He also claimed that the Democrats created the Epstein Files, just like they created the fake Hillary Clinton/Christopher Steele Dossier used on Trump.

Doubts About the Timing

Others expressed disbelief in the seriousness of Trump’s name by claiming that if the implications were more damning, then it would have come out before Trump returned to office.

Actress Angela Belcamino, who previously posted that “if Republicans are on the Epstein list, lock them up and throw away the key,” asked after the report came out: “If Trump is in the Epstein files… why didn’t the Biden administration do the right thing and release them during his administration?”

This argument has been repeated by several Trump supporters, including conservative commentator Benny Johnson, who asked: “If there was incriminating evidence against Trump in the Epstein files, would the Deep State have just kept it a secret and just watched Trump take office -- TWICE?!”

Daily Wire podcaster Matt Walsh added: “It is totally inconceivable that there would be something incriminating about Trump in the Epstein files and yet the Democrats kept that information to themselves for all these years.”

A Turning Point for Some Supporters

Still, for some former MAGA diehards disappointed by the recent Epstein saga, the Journal’s report was the nail in the coffin to make them turn their backs on Trump.

Livestreamer Nick Fuentes, who has been described as a white nationalist and Holocaust denier, posted on X: “The Wall Street Journal just confirmed that Trump has been engaged in a deliberate coverup of the Epstein Files ever since he learned he was named in them in May. Then he spent the last week gaslighting & guilting-tripping his supporters for not believing his lies. DESPICABLE.”

Trump’s handling of the Epstein files and responses thus far to the controversy has been a bitter pill for many of his supporters to swallow, especially as it becomes harder and harder to deny that he may have something to hide about his closeness to Epstein.

Recently, a video of the late convicted sex offender has gone viral on social media. Asked during a 2010 deposition whether he had socialized with Trump, who was not yet even talked about as a future White House contender, “in the presence of females under the age of 18,” Epstein responded: “Though I’d like to answer that question, at least today I’m going to have to assert my Fifth, Sixth, and 14th Amendment rights, sir.”

Critics have cited Trump’s own words from the campaign trail in 2016 against him now about invoking the constitutional right to not self-incriminate: “If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?”