WASHINGTON () U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, defended President Donald Trump on Wednesday over his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files and the resulting inner-party feud that has ensued.
“I have confidence in the president and his team,” Jordan told ’s Chris Stirewalt at The Hill Nation Summit. “There’s an annual trek that the attorney general and the deputy FBI director make to Capitol Hill in front of the Judiciary Committee we think we’ve got dates already scheduled later this summer. Well, they’ll be in front of the committee, and I’ve told everyone, ‘You can ask them.’ Republicans are going to have questions for them, Democrats are going to have questions for them on this issue and a host of other issues. And I think that’s how it should proceed.”
Jordan said that could happen as early as when Congress “gets back from the August break.”
Trump on Wednesday lashed out at his own supporters, accusing them of being duped by Democrats, over criticism of his administration’s handling of much-hyped records in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation, 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 probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 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 support anymore! Thank you for your attention to this matter,” he went on.
The schism centers on his administration’s handling of documents surrounding Epstein, who was found dead in his New York jail cell in August 2019, weeks after his arrest on sex trafficking charges. Last week, the Justice Department and the FBI acknowledged that Epstein did not maintain a “client list” to whom underage girls were trafficked, and they said no more files related to the investigation would be made public, despite past promises from Attorney General Pam Bondi that had raised the expectations of conservative influencers and conspiracy theorists.
Bondi had suggested in February that such a document was sitting on her desk waiting for review. Last week, however, she said she had been referring generally to the Epstein case file, not a client list.
“It’s a new administration and everything is going to come out to the public,” she had said at one point.
Trump has since defended Bondi and chided a reporter for asking about the documents.
“I don’t understand what the interest or what the fascination is,” he said Tuesday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
