Monday, July 21, 2025

SPECIAL FEATURE FOR READERS: Inside the White House’s Epstein Strategy...and more | The Atlantic

 

 


 
 

 
 
 
 
Aides kept suggesting things to do. Trump kept saying no.
By Ashley Parker and Jonathan Lemire
Illustration by Paul Spella / The Atlantic
AS the questions surrounding Jeffrey Epstein’s life and death—questions that Donald Trump once helped whip up—tornadoed into their bajillionth news cycle, the president’s team began to privately debate ways to calm the furor: 
  1. appoint a special counsel to investigate. 
  2. Call on the courts to unseal documents related to the case. 
  3. Have Attorney General Pam Bondi hold a news conference. 
  4. Hold daily news conferences on the topic, à la Trump’s regular prime-time pandemic appearances.

It dismissed every option. Any decision would ultimately come from Bondi and Trump together—or from Trump alone—and for days, the president was adamant about doing nothing.

Trump was annoyed by the constant questions from reporters—had Bondi told him that his name, in fact, was in the Epstein files? (“No,” came his response)—and frustrated by his inability to redirect the nation’s attention to what he views as his successes, four White House officials and a close outside adviser told us. But more than that, Trump felt deeply betrayed by his MAGA supporters, . ."

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