<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="http://9news.com.au/usa"><span>US</span></a><span> President </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/donald-trump"><span>Donald Trump</span></a><span> has accused some of his onetime supporters of being "weaklings" who are falling prey to Democratic "bullshit" about the late sex offender </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/jeffrey-epstein"><span>Jeffrey Epstein</span></a><span> — concluding that he no longer wants their support.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The message was the clearest sign yet of the cracks emerging in the president's coalition, many of whom are loudly demanding more information about the disgraced financier, who has been subject to myriad conspiracies since his death by suicide in 2019. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>And some of his allies don't appear to be listening, with Republicans in Congress taking steps on Wednesday morning (Wednesday night AEST) to potentially force the Justice Department to release more documents.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/carolina-wilga-german-backpacker-leaves-perth-hospital-after-five-nights-recovery-from-ordeal/7ca0e535-6904-4ec9-93ba-9ceda66f7d3d"><strong><span>What rescued German backpacker plans next</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Declaring that Democrats had struck "pay dirt" in the Epstein scandal, Trump said his political opponents were using the issue to attack him.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this 'bullshit,' hook, line, and sinker," Trump wrote in a missive on Truth Social. "They haven't learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 long years."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump said the Epstein controversy — roiling now for more than a week after his Justice Department announced in a memo that there was no Epstein "client list" and it didn't plan to release any more documents in the investigation — was distracting from the successes of his presidency.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/donald-trump-update-jeffrey-esptein-documents-pressure-leads-trump-to-call-past-supporters-weaklings/f61951f4-db75-42e4-8edd-653d777bd11a" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I have had more success in 6 months than perhaps any President in our Country's history, and all these people want to talk about, with strong prodding by the Fake News and the success starved Dems, is the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax," he wrote.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats (sic) work, don't even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don't want their support anymore!"</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The angry message was Trump's strongest rebuke of his own supporters, many of whom have been vocally furious about his administration's handling of the Epstein matter.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/heres-what-triggered-the-latest-deadly-violence-in-syria-and-why-it-matters/ea7998db-5a5a-4416-b135-8cb1e742a497"><strong><span>Israeli strikes rock Damascus as Syrian forces clash with Druze militias</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>While Trump has dismissed the controversy as sordid and uninteresting, before his post on Wednesday (early Thursday AEST) he hadn't gone as far as disavowing some of his staunchest allies who continue to press for more information.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>As of Tuesday, those allies notably included </span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/15/politics/epstein-files-trump-bondi"><span>House Speaker Mike Johnson</span></a><span>, who in an interview with right-wing influencer Benny Johnson called for more transparency in the matter. And GOP Representatives Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Lauren Boebert of Colorado have called on Congress to take further action, like subpoenaing the Justice Department for the documents or appointing a special counsel.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It's a very delicate subject. We should put everything out there and let the people decide it," Johnson said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>There are signs the drama in the House is escalating even further. Greene is </span><a href="https://x.com/repthomasmassie/status/1945442483053170807?s=46"><span>now working</span></a><span> to force a vote on the floor that would require the Justice Department to release all Epstein-related documents.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/depression-study-australia-experts-say-depression-linked-to-internal-jet-lag/8ed8de58-c41f-4c9f-8843-d9c1620e6a57" rel="" target="" title=""><strong><span>Suffering jet lag without travelling? This could be why</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She has joined Representative Thomas Massie — a fellow Republican hardliner and a frequent Trump agitator — on the push, which will use a congressional workaround known as a discharge petition to try to defy party leaders and force a vote with Democrats' help. That would require at least 218 signatures from House lawmakers to move forward. Another Trump friend-turned-foe, Elon Musk, gave a thumbs-up to the effort on Wednesday.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It won't be immediate, however. The actual vote isn't expected to take place until members return in September from their summer recess. And Massie and Greene face a seven-legislative-day delay before they can even start collecting signatures.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Others in Congress have issued calls for public testimony from Ghislaine Maxwell, the onetime Epstein associate who is serving a 20-year prison sentence in Florida for conspiring to sexually abuse minors.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The pressure to release more information has mostly fallen on Attorney General Pam Bondi, who said earlier this year she had a list of Epstein's clients sitting on her desk, but whose department later said in its memo no such list existed. Bondi said last week she was referring to other documents at the time.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump has enthusiastically backed up Bondi, saying she's handled the matter well. But he also appeared open Tuesday to allowing more information to come out, at Bondi's discretion, though he suggested any additional details might not be legitimate.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I would like to see that also," the president said, in an apparent reference to calls for more transparency. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"But I think the attorney general — the credibility is very important, and you want credible evidence for something like that, and I think the attorney general's handled it very well."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A few hours later, Bondi swatted away the possibility that she could release more case files, suggesting instead that last week's </span><a href="https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2025%2F07%2F07%2Fpolitics%2Fjeffrey-epstein-suicide-client-list-justice&amp;data=05%7C02%7CMegan.Trimble%40cnn.com%7C16a8a712aa7540835b7608ddc3e86c24%7C0eb48825e8714459bc72d0ecd68f1f39%7C0%7C0%7C638882125213138893%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=g4Lre8nPh0r3W9OpqbXx%2Fs8JZYaBR3gm2QUsu2X6eh8%3D&amp;reserved=0"><span>memo</span></a><span> declining to release files on Epstein "speaks for itself" and rejecting questions about making more documents public.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em></em><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f"><em><strong><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></strong></em></a><em><strong><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. 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