Trump faces a revolt from his MAGA base over the Epstein files [View all]

Source: NBC News

July 12, 2025, 9:19 PM EDT / Updated July 12, 2025, 11:17 PM EDT


TAMPA, Fla. — On the weekend President Donald Trump decided to pick his biggest political fight to date with the MAGA base he created in his own image, thousands of his adherents were gathered together.

And all they wanted to talk about here at the Student Action Summit hosted by the conservative activist group Turning Point USA was the "Epstein files."

“I think that these people — and I don’t know, for whatever reason, there could be reasons — but I don’t think they’re telling us the truth about Epstein,” podcaster Brandon Tatum told the assembled crowd at the Tampa Convention Center. “I think that that that guy was involved in something nefarious that implicates a whole lot of people. And my guess is that the whole lot of people may have, may happen to be some of our allies and some people that we don’t want to have a bad relationship with.”

Trump pulled the rug out from his base Saturday evening when he released a lengthy social media post that completely dismissed the importance of the issue that has consumed the right for the past week — and longer.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/trump-faces-revolt-maga-base-epstein-files-rcna218385