Elon Musk & Tucker Carlson-The controversy surrounding Jeffrey Epstein is flaring up again—and this time, it’s not just liberals raising questions. Influential voices inside the MAGA movement, including Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson, are now openly accusing Donald Trump’s administration of misleading the public about the long-rumored Epstein client list.
This renewed tension follows a Justice Department memo, first reported by Axios, which claimed that Epstein was not murdered, did not blackmail powerful individuals, and—most notably—had no client list. That conclusion has infuriated people on all sides of the political spectrum, especially after years of promises from MAGA influencers and Trump officials who claimed that exposing Epstein’s high-profile network was a top priority.
The DOJ’s assertion directly contradicts what former Trump officials have long claimed. In February, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News that the Epstein list was “sitting on my desk right now to review”—a statement she said was part of a directive from Trump himself. But as backlash grew, Bondi attempted to walk it back, saying she meant a general “file” of documents, not a literal list.
The reversal didn’t go unnoticed. Elon Musk—once aligned with Trump—took to X (formerly Twitter) to post a meme mocking the shifting narrative. It showed a man applying clown makeup with captions progressing from “We will release the Epstein list” to “There is no Epstein list.” Musk had previously tweeted, then deleted, a claim that “Trump is in the Epstein files,” suggesting that’s why they hadn’t been released. Even if Musk’s credibility is often debated, his public break from Trump on this issue is significant.
Tucker Carlson, another major MAGA-aligned voice, also weighed in. During a recent discussion, he questioned why the administration hadn’t followed through. “Thousands of children were trafficked. Who raped them? Where are the rapists? Why aren’t they in jail?” Carlson said. He warned that withholding key Epstein files could lead to public outrage, saying, “If you wanted a revolution, this is how you’d act.” His guest warned that Carlson’s rhetoric itself could fuel dangerous sentiments among MAGA followers.
This all raises a serious question: if Trump promised to release the Epstein files, why hasn’t he? And why are so many former allies suddenly turning against him?
During the 2024 campaign, Trump repeatedly promised to declassify Epstein-related documents. Asked directly whether he would release the files, he answered, “Yeah, I guess I would.” But then he added, “You don’t want to affect people’s lives if it’s phony stuff,” implying that some names might be falsely implicated. Critics now say that kind of hedging was always a signal that the files might never be fully released.
The backlash has grown within the MAGA base itself. JD Vance, then a vice presidential nominee, said last year, “We need to release the Epstein list. That is an important thing.” Conservative influencers like Dan Bongino and Kash Patel once called the Epstein investigation a top priority—and now find themselves under pressure to explain why nothing has come of it. Bongino had even claimed on air he would never let it go because of what he “heard about Bill Clinton” on Epstein’s plane.
Meanwhile, social media firebrands like Laura Loomer are going scorched earth on Bondi. “Why can’t we talk about what a dumb, lying bimbo Pam Bondi is?” Loomer posted. She even called on JD Vance to pressure Trump to fire her. Loomer has reportedly influenced Trump’s decisions in the past—especially on national security—and her open fury over the Epstein files may push Trump into further chaos with his own base.
Adding fuel to the fire, CNN recently reported that Bondi allegedly directed FBI agents to deprioritize national security work in order to redact Epstein-related files. But in the end, those files—the so-called “Phase One” batch—contained little new information. MAGA influencers who were invited to preview the documents found no smoking gun.
So where does this leave the Trump administration? Experts say the idea of a neatly typed “client list” is likely a myth—but that doesn’t mean the Epstein files are empty. Thousands of pages remain under wraps. Victim testimony, flight logs, video surveillance from Epstein’s homes, and details from the U.S. Virgin Islands and New Mexico investigations still haven’t been released in full.
Trump now faces growing pressure—not from Democrats, but from the very base he once rallied around the Epstein conspiracy. If there’s truly nothing to hide, critics ask, then why won’t he just release it all?