Conservatives, led by key figures in the MAGA movement, have pressed unsubstantiated claims that Epstein was murdered and that “deep state” actors in the government are hiding lists of his clients, videos of crimes being committed and other evidence. Trump himself suggested there was a cover-up.

But no issue has exposed the underlying fault lines in the MAGA tent quite like the so-called Epstein files. The furor has centered on a new government review of the evidence surrounding the disgraced financier and convicted sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein,

President Donald Trump said on Sunday he spoke to deputy FBI director Dan Bongino to try to calm an uproar over how the Justice Department handled the probe into the death of accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and his alleged clientele.