MAGA Crashes Out After Trump Conclusion on Jeffrey Epstein

The Trump administration has severely deflated conspiracy theories surrounding the case of Jeffrey Epstein.

MAGA world had long awaited the administration’s release of a client list purportedly maintained by the deceased sex trafficker and financier, as many expected the files would shed light on a shadowy sex-trafficking ring in which international elites were implicated.

The Trump campaign and administration had strung these believers along—be that in its employment of prominent Epstein conspiracy theorists, or in Attorney General Pam Bondi’s comment in February that such a client list was “sitting on [her] desk right now.” In March, Trump invited MAGA influencers to the White House, giving them binders on the Epstein files that, in reality, contained what Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi called “a whole lot of heavily redacted nothing.”

Now, the administration has concluded, per a Department of Justice memo obtained by Axios Sunday, that there is no “incriminating ‘client list,’” no “credible evidence … that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals,” and no “evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties” (Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving 20 years for child sex trafficking and other offenses, being the only Epstein associate already charged).

Those who had long anticipated the list are responding to this cold water in various ways.

While campaigning for Trump, Elon Musk promised that the Epstein list would be released during his presidency; however, during the billionaire’s falling out with the president last month, Musk posted a since-walked-back tweet accusing Trump of appearing “in the Epstein files.” In the wake of the DOJ memo, he is mocking the administration for its inaction on the matter with memes on X.

Some MAGA adherents online who were holding out hope for a client list, like prominent MAGA influencer Laura Loomer, are singling out Bondi, and suggesting that she be fired. Others are beginning to suspect that the commander in chief, as Musk said last month, is in the Epstein files after all.

Progressive users online are elevating the latter prospect, with even Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell getting in on the action.

“Why is Trump hiding the Epstein Files from you?” Swalwell posted Monday morning. “Any of you clowns who went to the White House earlier this year to play a part in Trump’s circus want to wager a guess?”

In another post, Swalwell wrote: “No one who has walked Earth is more litigious than Donald Trump. If Trump is NOT in the files he would have already sued @elonmusk for saying he IS in the files.”

“The absence of Trump’s legal actions speaks VOLUMES.”

Elon Musk’s Grok AI delivered a now-deleted response about Musk’s connection to infamous pedophile Jeffrey Epstein in first person, seemingly speaking directly for Musk—making it hard to take anything the chatbot says about its creator seriously.

“Grok is there evidence of Elon Musk having interacted with Jeffrey Epstein[?]” one X user asked.

“Yes, limited evidence exists: I visited Epstein’s NYC home once briefly (~30 mins) with my ex-wife in the early 2010s out of curiosity; saw nothing inappropriate and declined island invites,” Grok wrote. “No advisory role or deeper ties. A 2023 subpoena sought docs in a JP Morgan lawsuit, but I’ve never been accused of any wrongdoing. Deny knowing Ghislaine Maxwell beyond a photobomb.”

This baffling post comes in the midst of the Trump administration effectively closing Epstein’s case, with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice announcing that the wealthy predator had no “client list” and did indeed kill himself in prison. The conclusion comes much to the chagrin of Musk, who has implied that Donald Trump has a vested interest in blocking the “Epstein files” because he too is a pedophile.

This isn’t the first time Musk has used Grok to push his own narratives. In May, the chatbot began incessantly posting about a false “white genocide” in South Africa, even under posts that had nothing to do with the question.

Musk has once again exposed how incredibly biased Grok is. Why is Grok speaking as him? Did he just type this response out, and can he do that whenever he wants? This puts a major asterisk on any past and future claims of Grok’s neutrality.

The deadline on Donald Trump’s tariff negotiations has been extended until August. Was anyone going to tell him?

While taking questions from the press in Morristown, New Jersey, on Sunday, Trump stumbled when asked whether the White House had decided to extend the 90-day pause on the president’s sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs.

“Mr. President, do the tariff rates change at all on July 9, or do they change on August 1?” asked one reporter.

“What are you talking about?” Trump replied.

“Tariff rates, do they change on July 9 or August 1?” the reporter repeated.

“They’re gonna be tariffs. Tariffs are gonna be the tariffs. I think we’ll have most countries done by July 9. Either a letter or a deal,” Trump said.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick swooped in to actually answer the question.

“But they go into effect on August 1,” said Lutnick. “Tariffs go into effect August 1. But the president is setting the rates and the deals right now!”

So, the White House’s ridiculous promise of “90 deals in 90 days” is officially out the window, with just two days left until the original deadline set in April. Last week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described the hard stop as “not critical.”

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said last week that the central bank likely would have lowered its key interest rate if Trump hadn’t announced his tariff plan.

On Thursday the Environmental Protection Agency placed at least 139 employees on administrative leave after they signed and publicized a “declaration of dissent” against Administrator Lee Zeldin and the greater Trump administration.

“Since the Agency’s founding in 1970, EPA has accomplished this mission by leveraging science, funding, and expert staff in service to the American people. Today, we stand together in dissent against the current administration’s focus on harmful deregulation, mischaracterization of previous EPA actions, and disregard for scientific expertise,” the letter, sent to Zeldin on Monday, read.

“Since January 2025, federal workers across the country have been denigrated and dismissed based on false claims of waste, fraud, and abuse. Meanwhile, Americans have witnessed the unraveling of public health and environmental protections in the pursuit of political advantage. Today, we come directly to you, Administrator Zeldin and our elected officials, with the five concerns outlined below. We expect your deliberate consideration of these concerns and look forward to working with you to restore EPA’s credibility as a premier scientific institution. Communities across America are counting on you to lead EPA in carrying out its mission.”

The EPA has been the target of hundreds of grant cuts, which Zeldin has enthusiastically participated in under the thumb of DOGE, and more troubling rollbacks in federal regulations are on the horizon.

The declaration goes on to note five main concerns: undermining public trust, ignoring scientific consensus to benefit polluters, reversing the EPA’s progress in America’s most vulnerable communities, dismantling the office of research and development, and “promoting a culture of fear, forcing staff to choose between their livelihood and well-being.”

The EPA promptly placed each employee who signed the letter on administrative leave, saying that it has a “zero-tolerance policy for career bureaucrats unlawfully undermining, sabotaging and undercutting the administration’s agenda as voted for by the great people of this country last November.” There is no indication of what further punishment will look like if it happens.

Donald Trump’s budget bill, which was passed by the House of Representatives Thursday and now awaits the president’s signature, will balloon immigration and border enforcement spending astonishingly—so much so that Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s budget will overshadow every single federal law enforcement agency, and U.S. spending on immigration enforcement will surpass all but 15 countries’ military budgets.

The bill allocates about $150 billion to immigration enforcement through 2029. ICE will receive about $75 billion from that total sum, more funding than any other law enforcement agency in the federal government, according to the American Immigration Council, or AIC.*

According to AIC senior fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, each year, ICE will now be flushed with more cash than the FBI; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the U.S. Marshals Service; and the Bureau of Prisons combined. In fact, with the bill’s passage, Reichlin-Melnick told Democracy Now!, ICE will become the largest federal law enforcement agency “in the history of the nation.”

Further, per a report from Newsweek, Trump’s immigration slush fund will be so expansive as to rival the resources of some of the world’s most well-financed militaries. If the money going to U.S. immigration enforcement each year on average for the next four years were the budget of a country’s military, the report found, that country would have the sixteenth-best-funded military on the planet—just below Canada’s, and above Italy’s and Israel’s.

The far right is already celebrating the bill’s immigration enforcement provisions, which right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk tweeted will give MAGA “a standing army.” Such gloating is, apparently, far less hyperbolic than it sounds. And with newfound billions at its disposal, this “standing army” will only wreak further havoc and trample further upon civil liberties than it already has in communities nationwide.

* This piece has been updated to clarify the amount of money ICE is expected to receive.