As US President Donald Trump attempts to quell the controversy surrounding the Justice Department's handling of the investigation into the death of convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and his alleged clientele, his conservative supporters are warning that the issue could affect Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections.

"We have the midterm elections coming up, and I agree that we can't allow for one issue to dominate the entire news cycle and take up everybody’s energy," Laura Loomer, the MAGA [Make America Great Again] activist who is influential in Trump's inner circle, told the POLITICO, a US political newspaper.  

"We have to focus on the economy, we have to focus on immigration, we have to focus on a lot of issues. A lot of people need to learn how to walk and chew gum at the same time. President Trump, as the leader of the free world and the most powerful man in the world, can’t allow for his entire administration to be fully consumed with a single issue."

The Justice Department and FBI, under the Trump administration, are working to manage the repercussions following last week's decision to withhold records from the Epstein sex trafficking investigation.

This decision has caused discontent among influential figures in the far-right media and supporters of Trump.

The move, which included the acknowledgment that one particular sought-after document never actually existed, sparked a contentious conversation between Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino at the White House this week, the Associated Press reported.

"The spat threatened to shatter relations between them and centered in part on a news story that described divisions between the FBI and the Justice Department," the AP said.

Part of the clash centered on a story from the news organisation NewsNation that cited a "source close to the White House" as saying the FBI would have released the Epstein files months ago if it could have done so on its own. The story included statements from Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel refuting the premise, but not Bongino.

Trump defends Bondi

The cascade of disappointment and disbelief arising from the refusal to disclose additional, much-hyped records from the Epstein investigation underscores the struggles of FBI and Justice Department leaders to resolve the conspiracy theories and amped-up expectations that they themselves had stoked with claims of a cover-up and hidden evidence.

Infuriated by the failure of officials to unlock, as promised, the secrets of the so-called "deep state,", Trump supporters on the far right have grown restless and even demanded change at the top.

Trump expressed frustration in a social media posting on Saturday over the divide among diehards of his MAGA movement over the matter, and expressed support for Bondi. His lengthy post made no mention of Bongino.

"What's going on with my 'boys' and, in some cases, 'gals?'" Trump wrote. "They're all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! We're on one Team, MAGA, and I don't like what’s happening."

Tensions that simmered for months boiled over last week when the Justice Department and FBI issued a two-page statement saying that they had concluded that Epstein did not possess a "client list."

The acknowledgment that the well-connected Epstein did not have a list of clients to whom underage girls were trafficked represents a public walk-back of a theory that the Trump administration had helped promote, with Bondi suggesting in a Fox News interview earlier this year that such a document was "sitting on my desk" for review.

The department did disclose a video meant to prove that Epstein killed himself in jail, but even that raised the eyebrows of conspiracy theorists because of a missing minute in the recording.

Trump has labelled his administration "the talk of the world" and warned against "selfish people" trying to damage its image.

He denounced the revival of interest in case involving the late financier and convicted sex offender Epstein, calling related documents "Files written by (former US President Barack) Obama, Crooked (former Secretary of State) Hillary (Clinton), (former FBI Director James) Comey, (former CIA head John) Brennan, and the losers and criminals of the Biden Administration."

"The Epstein Files" were, according to Trump, manufactured similarly to the "fake" Steele dossier, a controversial opposition report by counterintelligence agent Christopher Steele.

"If there was anything in there that could have hurt the MAGA Movement, why didn't they use it?" he asked.

Photographs of Trump and Epstein together have been publicly available for a considerable time; however, Trump has stated that he was unaware of Epstein's offences which included procuring a minor for prostitution and sex trafficking.

Epstein client list

The Epstein issue has caused a significant divide amongst Trump's supporters, marking one of the largest rifts since his second term began.

MAGA supporters allege Epstein was murdered and kept a client list. However, the DOJ and FBI have found no evidence to support these claims.

"I don't think that just putting out a Truth Social post is going to make this issue go away. It's kind of had a Streisand effect, actually, where people are focusing on this topic a lot more than they were before he posted a Truth Social," Loomer told POLITICO.

"I think that it would be wise for the White House to develop some type of a strategy in addressing the base's concerns, so that we can mitigate any fallout or damage done to the Trump administration."

On Monday morning, the conservative influencer Benny Johnson outlined a four-pronged approach for Trump to address what he termed "the Epstein memo crisis".

This included calling for a press conference and bringing in former President Bill Clinton for questioning.

Midterm elections to the US Congress are a referendums on the performance of the president's party, with voters punishing or rewarding the party based on key issues.

Since the end of WW2, it has been common for the presidential party to lose seats in midterm elections, although this loss is more consistent in the House of Representatives than in the Senate.

Former White House aide Steve Bannon suggested last week that the Republican Party could lose dozens of House seats in the 2026 midterms over the Trump administration's handling of files related to disgraced financier Epstein.

"You're going to lose 10 percent of the MAGA movement. If we lose 10 percent of the MAGA movement right now, we ain't gonna … we're gonna lose 40 seats in '26," he cautioned during his "War Room" podcast. "We are gonna lose the president."

Frustration

Trisha Hope, a former staunch Trump supporter, expressed her frustration in a recent post on X.

"President Trump's lack of concern for the Epstein victims and his callus response to the reporter's question, ends my relationship with him. I will not support a man who denies justice to the victims who in this case are children and mocks the question," she wrote.

Trump's base accused Democrats of suppressing Epstein evidence, but now face the realisation Trump may be doing the same.

Adding to the MAGA demand is Elon Musk, the Trump ally-turned-foe.

The tech billionaire Elon Musk has taken aim at Trump over the case of Epstein, saying his new America Party will focus on releasing files from the case.

"How can people be expected to have faith in Trump if he won't release the Epstein files?" Musk wrote on X, his social media platform.

When a user asked if exposing the files would rank high on priorities for the America Party, Musk affirmed by posting a "100" emoji.

Relations between Trump and Musk have soured, marked by public disputes after Musk criticised Trump's economic policies.

Musk suggested launching a new political party last month. He queried his X followers about creating one that "represents the 80% in the middle".

He later backed a supporter's suggestion to name the new party the America Party, similar to the America PAC (Political Action Committee) he launched last year, which spent $239 million supporting Trump and other Republicans in the 2024 elections.

Epstein working on behalf of Israel?

Tucker Carlson, a conservative political commentator who recently parted ways with Trump, is also among the leading critics of the handling of the Epstein files by the Trump administration.

Speaking last week at the 'Turning Point USA' summit in Florida, Carlson alleged that Epstein, who was accused of running a blackmail ring, was working on behalf of Israeli intelligence services.

"The real question is, why was he doing this, on whose behalf, and where did the money come from?" Carlson said.

"I think the real answer is Jeffrey Epstein was working on behalf of intel services, probably not American. And we have every right to ask, on whose behalf was he working?

"Now, no one’s allowed to say that the foreign government is Israel because we have been somehow cowed into thinking that’s naughty. There is nothing wrong with saying that. There is nothing hateful about saying that," Carlson said.

"There’s nothing anti-Semitic about saying that. There’s nothing even anti-Israel about saying that," he added.

Carlson alluded to Ehud Barak's ties to Epstein. The former Israeli prime minister had reportedly met Epstein approximately 30 times between 2013 and 2017.