Leading voices in President Donald Trump’s MAGA base who had been critical for days of the president and administration’s handling of the Epstein files are now rallying to Trump’s defense following a story in the Wall Street Journal, and are celebrating the administration’s move to release grand jury testimony, potentially cooling the backlash among his supporters.
The administration angered many of Trump’s supporters when it announced last week that it would not release any additional files on Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy financier and convicted sex offender who died by suicide in jail in 2019, after earlier promising to do so.
Prior to joining the administration, Trump boosters like Kash Patel and Dan Bongino had stoked conspiracy theories about an Epstein “client list” that allegedly included the names of wealthy Democratic elites. But elevated to leadership positions in the FBI, both Patel and Bongino signed off on a memo stating that no such list existed — angering some of Trump’s most vocal supporters.
That changed on Thursday, when the Wall Street Journal published a letter it alleged Trump had sent Epstein in 2003 for his 50th birthday. ABC News has not been able to confirm the existence of the letter.
Trump, who had been friendly with Epstein for around 15 years before they had a falling out in 2004, denied to the Journal that he had written the letter, and on Friday filed a defamation lawsuit against the paper claiming damages of not less than $10 billion.
Leading Trump supporters rallied to the president’s side.
Following the Journal article, MAGA voices who had been some of Trump’s most vocal critics over the last week, including Megyn Kelly, Charlie Kirk, Jack Posobiec, Laura Loomer, Benny Johnson and even Elon Musk rushed to defend the president.
Posobiec, a MAGA podcaster who had been one of the loudest voices pushing the Epstein issue, told former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, “We’re so back. Everyone is firing on all cylinders. The MAGA movement is completely united behind this fight.”
President Donald Trump raises his fist while boarding Air Force One, as he departs for Pennsylvania, at Joint Base Andrews, Md., July 15, 2025.
Nathan Howard/Reuters
“We have to be on offensive all the time,” Bannon told his online audience, saying of Trump, “They tried to actually destroy him.”
Trump also announced Thursday that he was asking Attorney General Pam Bondi to “produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval” in regard to the Epstein case — prompting accolades from supporters who had been pushing for the release of more Epstein material.
Johnson, another MAGA podcaster, tweeted “victory” in response to the news.
Kirk, on his show, urged his viewers to “thank President Trump” for pushing his administration to release the testimony.
“So for any of you in the audience that were a little uneasy, that were a little anxious, I think it’s morally incumbent on you to say thank you President Trump, thank you for stepping up and for doing this,” Kirk said. “Thank you President Trump, for fulfilling what you said you were going to do, because he does deserve credit.”
The Journal story appears to have redirected MAGA supporters’ criticism and unified them against a familiar target: the media. But whether the shift in support will hold is unclear. While figures like Kirk and Bannon have framed the grand jury promise as a major win, the release of the testimony itself could take time, as officials must first assess its impact on victims then win the approval of a federal judge.
And because the grand jury transcripts represent only a small fraction of the files on Epstein, it’s unclear if the contents will satisfy members of Trump’s base who have been demanding the release of all Epstein materials. The last time the administration released Epstein-related files in February, the move sparked further questions and contributed to the backlash the president and his administration are still dealing with today.
For now, though, Kirk said on his show that “it was very fun to see” the MAGA base rallying around Trump following the publication of the Journal’s story.
Seemingly to underscore the point, Kirk opened his show with a snippet of Joe Cocker’s performance of the song “With a Little Help From My Friends” — in an apparent wink and a nod to the story helping to unite the MAGA movement behind the president once again.
