President Trump “would not recommend” that Attorney General Pam Bondi appoint a special prosecutor to handle the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday.
Leavitt’s remarks came after the president on Wednesday said the controversy over his administration’s handling of information from investigations into the late convicted sex offender Epstein is a “hoax” and “bulls***,” and lambasted Republicans calling for more transparency as “weaklings.” Many of the president’s supporters, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, have called for the Justice Department to release all of its records related to Epstein, who died in 2019 while awaiting trial for child sex trafficking.
On Thursday, a reporter asked Leavitt if the president has asked Bondi to appoint a special prosecutor in the Epstein case. Some of the president’s allies have called for such a move.
“The president would not recommend a special prosecutor in the Epstein case,” Leavitt said. “That’s how he feels. And as for his discussions with the attorney general, I’m not sure.”
Bondi has been criticized by some in Mr. Trump’s base after the Justice Department and FBI said in a memo earlier this month there was no evidence Epstein kept a “client list,” and there was no evidence that Epstein had blackmailed prominent figures. The memo also said Epstein died by suicide while in federal custody in 2019.
Frustration has continued to simmer, with some right-wing influencers calling for Bondi’s resignation over her handling of the case’s records. In the past, Bondi had pledged to release documents on the government’s Epstein investigation.
The president this week called interest in the Epstein case “boring,” but also said Bondi should release “whatever she thinks is credible” in the Epstein case.
Mr. Trump claimed conspiracies about the case were constructed by Democrats.
“It’s all been a big hoax, it’s perpetrated by the Democrats, and some stupid Republicans and foolish Republicans fall into the net,” Mr. Trump said in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
