STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
NPR remains with you today, covering the news independently - even news that politicians don't like. And that includes a story of intense interest to many Republicans, even though President Trump is openly trying to tamp it down. It's the administration's handling of the Epstein files.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The president wants fan speculation about famous people's connections to Jeffrey Epstein, an investor and socialite who was also a convicted sex offender. Now Trump faces questions after failing to produce revelations. Attorney General Pam Bondi teased the release of the files back in February. She answered a question from John Roberts of Fox News.
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JOHN ROBERTS: The DOJ may be releasing the list of Jeffrey Epstein's clients? Will that really happen?
PAM BONDI: It's sitting on my desk right now to review. That's been a directive by President Trump. I'm reviewing that.
INSKEEP: Sitting on my desk. After that, several far-right influencers were invited to the White House for what they were told would be an early look at the files. They walked out holding binders labeled "Epstein Files: Phase 1" and "Declassified."
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EMILY AUSTIN: I'm here outside the West Wing, and look at what we got today. The Epstein files, baby. Let's make America safe again.
INSKEEP: Once they looked in the binders, some were disappointed.
MARTIN: Last month, Trump's onetime ally Elon Musk suggested Trump himself was in the Epstein files and, quote, that's why they haven't been released, unquote. Musk gave no evidence of this.
INSKEEP: But then the Justice Department said there was no client list, no blackmail evidence and no more files to be released. Earlier this month, Bondi was asked to explain why she had said the list was on her desk.
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BONDI: I was asked a question about the client list. And my response was, it's sitting on my desk to be reviewed, meaning the file, along with the JFK, MLK files as well. That's what I meant by that.
MARTIN: That explanation, though, seemed to make Trump supporters even more suspicious, including one of the president's longtime defenders, the talk show host Tucker Carlson.
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TUCKER CARLSON: The fact that the U.S. government, the one that I voted for, refused to take my question seriously and instead said, case closed; shut up, conspiracy theorist, was too much for me.
INSKEEP: Then, on Wednesday, Trump lashed out at his own supporters for fixating on the Epstein case.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It's all been a big hoax. It's perpetrated by the Democrats. And some stupid Republicans and foolish Republicans fall into the net, and so they try and do the Democrats' work. The Democrats are good for nothing other than these hoaxes.
INSKEEP: According to a new Quinnipiac poll, nearly two-thirds of voters disapprove of the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files, including more than one-third of Republicans. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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