President Donald Trump privately erupted at conservative activist and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk after Kirk continued allowing discussions about Jeffrey Epstein at Turning Point events despite Trump’s desire for the issue to fade from public attention, according to a forthcoming book by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan.
According to excerpts published this week, Trump became frustrated after a Turning Point gathering devolved into what he reportedly viewed as an “Epstein grievance fest.” The book claims Trump personally contacted Kirk to complain that attendees and speakers were continuing to focus on Epstein rather than promoting the administration’s agenda.
The New York Times reports:
On July 12, the president took to Truth Social to defend Bondi against criticism and to urge his “boys” and “gals” to stop wasting “Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about.” Trump told aides he was very unhappy with some of his most influential supporters, including Charlie Kirk, Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, all of whom were publicly urging the administration to come clean. Kirk had held a Turning Point USA event the previous day that turned into an Epstein grievance fest, with one speaker after another bashing Bondi over her handling of the situation. Trump had called Kirk and scolded him.
Nobody in Trump’s orbit had a better feel for the younger part of the MAGA base than Kirk, who saw that the Epstein cover-up, as it was now viewed, was capturing attention to an alarming extent. Donald Trump Jr. and JD Vance — both of whom spent considerable time on X and were tapped into the same younger and hyper-online portion of the base — were also worried. They urged the White House to change course and force the Justice Department to release more of the files.
Vance made clear to colleagues that he feared losing some of the so-called low-propensity voters, the young men who were not traditional Republicans but who had voted for the Trump-Vance ticket in 2024. This was an audience tuned in to the “manosphere” podcasters like Joe Rogan, and it was worrisome that the podcast hosts themselves were now rebelling.
According to the report, Trump was eager to put the Epstein controversy behind him and reportedly reacted angrily whenever it was raised. As a result, aides largely steered clear of the topic in conversations with the president, instead discussing their concerns privately among themselves.
Kirk later scaled back his commentary after speaking with Trump and other administration officials.
On July 16, Trump publicly vented his frustration over the Epstein controversy in a lengthy Truth Social post. Casting the issue as a Democratic “hoax,” the president lashed out not only at his political opponents but also at portions of his own base who continued demanding additional disclosures. Trump derided some of those supporters as “PAST supporters” and “weaklings,” accusing them of having “bought into this ‘bullshit,’ hook, line, and sinker.”
Internal Concerns Grew Inside the White House
The book excerpts and related reporting suggest the White House treated the Epstein controversy as a much larger political threat than public statements indicated.
Reports describe administration officials holding repeated strategy sessions and closely tracking reactions from influential conservative media personalities. Trump advisers reportedly worried that dissatisfaction over the Epstein files could fracture parts of the MAGA coalition at a time when the administration was trying to maintain support ahead of the 2026 midterms.
A memo from Trump’s chief pollster, Tony Fabrizio, reportedly found that the Epstein issue ranked surprisingly high among voter concerns and was generating frustration among many core Trump supporters.
While Kirk ultimately toned down his public criticism, the Epstein controversy has remained one of the few issues capable of generating sustained divisions within the political coalition that helped return Donald Trump to the White House.
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