WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 27: U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks alongside President Donald Trump on recent Supreme Court rulings in the briefing room at the White House on June 27, 2025 in Washington, DC. The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that individual judges cannot grant nationwide injunctions to block executive orders, including the injunction on President Trump’s effort to eliminate birthright citizenship in the U.S. The justices did not rule on Trump’s order to end birthright citizenship but stopped his order from taking effect for 30 days. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
By Michael Schwarz and February 13, 2026 at 1:09pm
To say that President Donald Trump and members of his administration could have handled the release of millions of files related to deceased child sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein better would be an understatement.
Indeed, as anyone who has recently spent time on the social media platform X could attest, many Americans are rightly upset at the way the White House has handled the release of the files. That goes for Attorney General Pam Bondi saying they were on her desk last year, to Trump himself dismissing the documents as irrelevant.
But for all the bungled messaging, however, the opportunity to go down in history as heroes remains in front of them.
The latest crisis began on Jan. 30, when the Department of Justice, in compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, published 3.5 million searchable files on its website.
While Trump deserves credit for actually releasing files that have been hidden for multiple administrations, things could have been finessed better from the jump, and this week was no exception.
Following said publication, the Epstein Files consumed the attention of X users, including quite a few sleuths. As they dug into the files, they discovered horrifying references that, all told, appeared to pain a picture of a global, satanic, cannibalistic, child sex-trafficking ring on a scale hitherto unimaginable.
For instance, one particularly dark email, written by Epstein in 2011, has made the rounds on X. It reads as follows:
“[Redacted] said that she felt gods presence next to her when she was in bed. she knows that jesus watches over her and he helped save her life. Whoops.”
Did Epstein refer to a little Christian girl whom he abused and then murdered? No one will say. Both the victim’s name and the email recipient remain redacted.
Either way, for obvious reasons, the awakening public will not and should not move on from such horrors. It makes no difference how often Trump and his lieutenants in the Department of Justice, the FBI, or elsewhere demand that we do.
In fact, their repeated cry of “nothing to see here” has made them look complicit to many in what is believed to be a decades-old cover-up.
Whether that is fair or not is not the argument. It’s the optics that matter here.
“What we did, under President Trump’s leadership, is produce the most transparent DOJ and FBI in history,” FBI Director Kash Patel said earlier this month in a clip posted to X. “Three other administrations had the opportunity to do this. And we produced everything we legally and lawfully could.” [:22]
Kash Patel says he’s done with the Epstein Files. So you should all just move along, nothing to see here. pic.twitter.com/qQmU8oSJp7
— Clayton Morris (@ClaytonMorris) February 4, 2026
Of course, those remarks, made during an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, overlooked the fact that Congress, led by Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California, forced the administration to produce those files after nearly a year of stonewalling, particularly on the part of Bondi.
Speaking of which, on Wednesday, Bondi delivered perhaps the most catastrophic testimony in the history of congressional hearings.
In an epic moment of tone deafness, the attorney general deflected an Epstein-related question by citing the booming stock market.
“That’s what we should be talking about!” she bellowed. “We should be talking about making Americans safe.”
Bondi then acted incredulous when a committee member rightly questioned the relevance of her stock-market comments.
Pam Bondi goes on a completely unhinged rant about the stock market when asked why she has not indicted any clients of Jeffrey Epstein.
Bondi says all Americans need to focus on other topics, like the economy, and not on Jeffrey Epstein’s child trafficking network.
“That’s what… pic.twitter.com/zwbtd3lkoH
— Shadow of Ezra (@ShadowofEzra) February 11, 2026
One could scarcely imagine a bigger public humiliation for the Trump administration than what Bondi’s testimony has produced.
Then again, the president himself set the tone for all of this long ago.
Has the Trump administration botched the Epstein files release and aftermath?
Recall, for instance, in July 2025, when Trump, speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, called the Epstein case “pretty boring stuff” and wondered why people still cared about it.
“I don’t understand it,” Trump said of his supporters’ interest in Epstein. “Why they would be so interested. He’s dead for a long time. He was never a big factor in terms of life. I don’t understand what the interest or what the fascination is. I really don’t. And the credible information’s been given.”
Three-and-a-half million pages later, of course, we now know there was still “credible information” out there, and more that has yet to come.
“But I don’t understand why the Jeffrey Epstein case would be of interest to anybody. It’s pretty boring stuff,” Trump added moments later. “It’s sordid, but it’s boring. And I don’t understand why it keeps going. I think really only pretty bad people, including fake news, want to keep something like that going.”
Meanwhile, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick stood to the president’s left.
When Trump said “fake news,” Lutnick laughed.
Unfortunately, Lutnick appears more than 100 times in the recently released Epstein Files.
NOW – Trump: “I don’t understand why the Jeffrey Epstein case would be of interest to anybody. It’s pretty boring stuff. I think really only pretty bad people, including fake news, want to keep something like that going.” pic.twitter.com/JL8xMR7VIU
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) July 15, 2025
To put it mildly, many Trump supporters have refused to accept the administration’s Epstein-related messaging.
On X, for instance, the outrage has not subsided for two weeks. In fact, it has only intensified, with some calling for revolution.
Imagine hating Thomas Massie for exposing the pedophiles in government who are raping, murdering and eating America’s children and DEFENDING those same pedophiles because the stock market is up.
Come Lord Jesus, come.
— ThePatrioticBlonde🇺🇸 (@ImBreckWorsham) February 13, 2026
Rush use to say the relationship Trump built with his supporters could only be destroyed by Trump, well he was right and Trump has done exactly that.
— Trisha Hope – National Delegate-TX (@JustTheTweets17) February 13, 2026
If Trump won’t fire Lutnick, Trump should be fired.
Maybe conservatives should vote Democrat in 2026 and 2028 so that the GOP burns to the ground.
Short-term pain, long-term gain.
— Steve Franssen (@SteveFranssen) February 13, 2026
The French Revolution began over far less than what we are dealing with at present.
— Libertarian Mama 🔔 (@LibertarianMama) February 11, 2026
Remember…. They’ve already told us. They aren’t arresting anyone over the Epstein files.
They’ll arrest you for not paying taxes but raping, torturing, killing and eating children is not something them and their friends have to worry about?
We need a revolution.
— Alan Roberts (@AlanRoberts) February 13, 2026
Why isn’t there a revolution going on right now?
— Mr. Nobody (@MmisterNobody) February 12, 2026
In the end, of course, regardless of what Trump might believe, the Epstein problem rests at his feet. It makes no difference that Democrats had those files for four years and took no action.
No one expected justice from former President Joe Biden’s merry band of tyrants and criminals. And no one cares about that now anyway. Trump cannot escape responsibility, no matter how many times he or anyone else tries to change the subject.
“But what about the 68% of Americans that don’t believe Trump’s DOJ about Epstein?” Rasmussen Reports pollster Mark Mitchell wrote in response to one X user’s attempt to downplay the content of the files. “It’s Trump’s problem to fix that. How does he do it?”
But what about the 68% of Americans that don’t believe Trump’s DOJ about Epstein?
It’s Trump’s problem to fix that. How does he do it?
— Mark Mitchell, Rasmussen Reports (@honestpollster) February 13, 2026
Indeed, how does Trump fix that problem? Well, he could start by taking it seriously.
Deflecting questions and talking about the economy makes a public that does not trust the government view the White House with suspicion, and rightly so.
Then, he could instruct his Attorney General — preferably someone other than Bondi — to launch a serious investigation into everyone associated with Epstein.
From there, arrests and punishments must follow swiftly if justified.
But that all starts with complete transparency, beginning yesterday. The Democrats have latched onto the files and crafted a narrative that they will deliver justice.
Trump ran on the issue of releasing these files. What is in those files matters to a lot of good people whose only motivation is to protect women and children from monsters.
The White House must follow through on a promise and explain plainly why it will not or cannot honor that promise in instances where people feel like they are being misled.
Michael Schwarz holds a Ph.D. in History and has taught at multiple colleges and universities. He has published one book and numerous essays on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Early U.S. Republic. He loves dogs, baseball, and freedom. After meandering spiritually through most of early adulthood, he has rediscovered his faith in midlife and is eager to continue learning about it from the great Christian thinkers.
Michael Schwarz holds a Ph.D. in History and has taught at multiple colleges and universities. He has published one book and numerous essays on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Early U.S. Republic. He loves dogs, baseball, and freedom. After meandering spiritually through most of early adulthood, he has rediscovered his faith in midlife and is eager to continue learning about it from the great Christian thinkers.
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