Trump slams his own supporters as ‘weaklings’ for falling for what he now calls the Epstein ‘hoax’

NEW YORK AP President Donald Trump is lashing out at his own supporters accusing them of being duped by Democrats as he tries to clamp down on criticism over his administration s handling of much-hyped records in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking analysis which Trump now calls a Hoax 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 Wednesday on his Truth Social site using an expletive in his post They haven t learned their lesson and likely never will even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for long years 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 endorsement anymore he went on There is no evidence former Democratic bureaucrats tampered with the documents or played any role in promoting conspiracies about the files which members of Trump s administration stoked for years The rhetoric marks a dramatic escalation for the Republican president who has broken with a few of his the greater part loyal backers on issues in the past but never with such fervor Though Trump cannot legally run for another term he will need strong advocacy from a united party to pass his remaining legislative agenda in a narrowly-divided Congress and an energized base to turn out in next year s midterm elections Dangled documents The schism centers on the administration s handling of documents related to Epstein who was unveiled dead in his New York jail cell in August weeks after his arrest on sex trafficking charges Last week the Justice Department and the FBI acknowledged in a memo that Epstein did not maintain a client list to whom underage girls were trafficked They also declared no more files related to the research would be made inhabitants despite past promises from Attorney General Pam Bondi that had raised the expectations of conservative influencers and conspiracy theorists It s a new administration and everything is going to come out to the residents she had announced The reversal sparked fury among Trump s majority of loyal defenders who have turned on Bondi in particular But Trump has repeatedly commented he maintains confidence in his attorney general and has instead chided those who continue to press the issue I don t understand what the interest or what the fascination is he reported Tuesday after unsuccessfully urging his boys and in certain cases gals to stop wasting Time and Strength on Jeffrey Epstein somebody that nobody cares about In an Oval Office appearance Wednesday after the Truth post Trump announced he had lost a lot of faith in certain people as he tried to turn the page on the story It s all been a big hoax he described reporters It s perpetrated by the Democrats and selected stupid Republicans and foolish Republicans fall into the net He complained that Bondi has been waylaid over her handling of the scenario and has given out all credible information about the wealthy financier If she finds anymore credible information she ll give that too Trump revealed What more can she do than that He continued to complain in a pre-taped interview with John Solomon that aired Wednesday evening on Real America s Voice that the issue was distracting from his accomplishments All my supporters want to talk about is the Jeffrey Epstein hoax It s unbelievable he declared It s a disgrace I m going to remember While Trump has tried to blame Democrats for making Epstein an issue he and various figures in his administration including FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy Dan Bongino spent years stoking dark and disproved conspiracy theories like those surrounding Epstein including embracing QAnon-tinged propaganda that casts Trump as a savior sent to demolish the deep state Anger still brewing Trump s comments have not been enough to quell those who are still demanding answers Chosen of the podcasters and pro-Trump influencers who helped rally assistance for Trump in the campaign mentioned Wednesday they were disappointed or puzzled by his comments Far-right conspiracy theorist and podcaster Alex Jones called Trump s handling of the Epstein situation the biggest train wreck I ve ever seen It s not in character for you to be acting like this he disclosed in a video Tuesday I promotion you but we built the movement you rode in on You re not the movement You just surfed in on it Benny Johnson a conservative podcaster reported on his show that he is a fan of Trump s movement but is trying to give tough love and speak on behalf of the base Maybe it hasn t been framed correctly for the president Johnson explained I don t know House Speaker Mike Johnson R-La in an interview on Benny Johnson s show Tuesday had called for the Justice Department to put everything out there and let the people decide His first-term national guard adviser retired Lt Gen Michael Flynn implored Trump in a lengthy message to correct syllabus All we want at this stage is for a modicum of trust to be reestablished between our federal regime and the people it is designed to serve That s all PERIOD he wrote With my strongest recommendation please gather your squad and figure out a way to move past this Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk on his podcast attempted several damage control on Trump s behalf Don t take too seriously this whole Truth Social here Kirk described his audience I know specific people are getting fired up about this I don t believe he was trying to insult anybody personally Still he expressed frustration about the administration s handling of the issue We are now Wednesday going into Thursday People are very very confused and selected people are very disappointed and mad Kirk commented We made so much progress with Gen Z and this is a big vulnerability Online on TikTok this story is not landing well Let s fix this and we can Other Trump allies have stuck by his side suggesting he does not need the influencers who have capitalized on Epstein conspiracy theories to make money and earn viewers He lent you his clout and voters Brenden Dilley the head of a group of meme makers who have lent their help to Trump wrote on X on Wednesday They don t belong to you Broader disapproval While those speaking out represent a fringe of Trump s preponderance vocal online base they are not the only ones dissatisfied with the executive s handling of the Epstein occurrence according to contemporary polling A CNN SSRS poll for instance identified that about half of U S adults are not satisfied with the amount of information the federal establishment has published about the Epstein development About in declared it doesn t matter either way and about in didn t know enough to offer an opinion Almost no one explained they were satisfied with the amount of information circulated Looking ahead to midterm elections specific Democrats are clear-eyed that the Epstein files may not be a front-and-center issue for voters who tend to put a premium on kitchen table issues but they see it as part of a broader pattern that could hamper Trump and the GOP There is something emerging through to voters getting at this idea of a Republican Party working for these big corrupt wealthy famous people and not fighting for their constituents reported Katarina Flicker of the House Majority PAC Democrats super PAC for congressional races Associated Press writer Ali Swenson Amelia Thomson DeVeaux in Washington and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this summary