The Justice Department and FBI released a memo stating that Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide and that there was no solid proof of a “client list” or blackmail. After this, President Donald Trump told his allies, especially in MAGA media, to stop talking about the Epstein case.
This happened because many prominent MAGA voices had spent years pushing the idea of a bigger conspiracy and a hidden client list, and they were unhappy with the memo’s conclusions. The memo’s findings went against what many in Trump’s base had believed for a long time, leading some to demand that Attorney General Pam Bondi resign or be fired. However, Trump quickly defended Bondi and told his supporters not to “waste Time and Energy” on the issue.
Fox News, a major outlet for pro-Trump commentary, mostly followed Trump’s request. On Monday, after Trump’s statement, Epstein’s name was said only eight times across the network’s shows. MSNBC noted that this was a big difference compared to the 158 times former President Joe Biden was mentioned that same day.
Fox news is keeping Epstein out of MAGA’s mind
Well-known Fox News hosts like Jesse Watters, Sean Hannity, and Greg Gutfeld, who had earlier been very vocal about exposing Epstein’s supposed network, either stayed quiet or played down the story. Watters, who had once said he was “leading the charge to expose Jeffrey Epstein’s list,” spent only a short time on the topic during his Monday show, talking to people at the beach. Sean Hannity and Greg Gutfeld did not mention the story at all. Laura Ingraham, another prime-time host, suggested that while “conservative influencers were arguing among themselves about Epstein, the president was stealing the spotlight.”
This sudden shift in focus is especially surprising because both Watters and Hannity had previously claimed that the “deep state” was blocking the release of Epstein’s documents. Now, Trump is pushing a new idea that people like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton “created” the Epstein files to hurt the MAGA movement, which goes against what these hosts had said before.
Remember when Fox edited Trump’s answer when they asked him if he’d declassify the files on Jeffrey Epstein?
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) October 24, 2024
Trump’s full response on the left: “Yeah, yeah. I would. I guess I would. I think that less so, because you don't want to affect people's lives if it's phony stuff in… pic.twitter.com/VJlP76ZNCx
Outside of Fox News, some MAGA influencers, like Candace Owens and Benny Johnson, seemed confused or even critical of Trump’s new stance. But overall, most MAGA commentators either stayed quiet or publicly agreed with the president.
Podcaster Dinesh D’Souza directly asked, “Is it time to move on from the Jeffrey Epstein case?” and then answered, “I want to argue the answer is yes.” Newsmax’s Greg Kelly said, “I’m going to just have to defer to President Trump on this thing.” Charlie Kirk, who had earlier stirred up frustration at a Turning Point USA event, stated, “I’m done talking about Epstein for the time being… I’m gonna trust my friends in the administration.”
This coordinated effort by Fox News and other pro-Trump media figures to steer attention away from Epstein is suspicious. However, if MAGA drops Epstein, that will just add to the list of empty promises that the public was told it’d get files on, like 9/11, JFK, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. The public only got some files declassified, but not everything.
