In 2023, then-Trump aide and podcast common Kash Patel had demanded Republicans “put in your large boy pants and tell us who the pedophiles are.” Now 44 and serving as FBI director, Patel’s silence is enraging the identical viewers he as soon as stirred.
Dan Bongino, 49, now his deputy, had informed his followers final yr: “The Epstein consumer checklist is a large deal.” Just lately, he informed Fox Information: “There’s no checklist, and Epstein killed himself.”
Vice President JD Vance, 39, was additionally an early promoter. In October, he tweeted: “We have to launch the Epstein checklist.” This month, he downplayed the Wall Avenue Journal’s report of a 2003 birthday message Trump allegedly despatched to Epstein, calling it “media noise.”
Trump’s response has solely deepened the sense of betrayal amongst his base.
After initially referring to the paperwork as “boring,” he lashed out at critics, calling them “weaklings” and accusing former supporters of falling for the “Jeffrey Epstein hoax… hook, line, and sinker.”