Over the weekend, right-wing media figure Charlie Kirk hosted the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit, where the young conservatives in attendance were up in arms about President Trump’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein affair.
Now, after a phone call from the president himself, Kirk is backing off of the issue.
“Honestly, I’m done talking about Epstein for the time being,” Kirk said on the Monday episode of his talk show. “I’m going to trust my friends in the administration. I’m going to trust my friends in the government to do what needs to be done. Solve it. Ball’s in their hands. I’ve said plenty this last weekend.”
Attendees of Kirk’s conference were vocal about their disapproval of the Trump administration closing the Epstein case after entertaining—and promising to substantiate—conspiracy theories about the deceased financier and sex criminal.
On Friday, Kirk asked the crowd, “How many of you, raise your hand, think this is a big deal, the Epstein thing?” Hands shot up across the room, and Kirk observed, “Every hand has gone up.”
Another Friday speaker, Fox News’s Laura Ingraham, asked the audience, “How many of you are satisfied … with the results of the Epstein investigation?” Boos resounded.
Many in MAGA, blaming Attorney General Pam Bondi for the Epstein fiasco, called for her firing, leading Trump on Saturday to attempt to dispel his base’s outrage on Truth Social. “What’s going on with my ‘boys’ and, in some cases, ‘gals?’” he posted, defending Bondi and calling the Epstein files a concoction of MAGA adversaries that “nobody cares about.”
Kirk, whose conference was clear evidence to the contrary, nonetheless announced on Monday that he’ll devote no more airtime to the matter, instead deferring to his administration “friends” Kash Patel, Dan Bongino, Pam Bondi, and Todd Blanche.
A new CNN report may explain Kirk’s decision to turn away from the Epstein issue. In doing damage control over the weekend, Trump reportedly made phone calls to Bondi’s “most vocal critics” in order “to stem the bleeding over the Epstein files.” Trump is said to have called Kirk on Saturday.
It remains unknown which other conservative figures the president phoned in hopes of quelling dissent over the Epstein case, but it might be worth keeping an eye on who in MAGA world suddenly, inexplicably changes their tune.
The post Trump Is Bullying MAGA Influencers to Fall in Line on Epstein appeared first on New Republic.
