A former Republican strategist has blamed a "communications snag" between the Department for Justice and the White House over the release of files relating to Jeffrey Epstein.
Epstein, a wealthy financier and convicted sex offender, was facing federal charges of sex trafficking minors when he died by suicide in jail in 2019. He had pleaded not guilty, and the case was dismissed after his death.
Earlier this week, Trump said Attorney General Pam Bondi should release "whatever she thinks is credible" on Epstein, as he urged his supporters to move on from the saga.
Now, Adam Goodman, host of the 13th and Park podcast and former advisor to Bondi, has told GB News there could have been communication issues.
GB NEWS
|Adam Goodman spoke to GB News about the recent Epstein scandal
Some of Trump's staunchest political allies are keeping the pressure on. House Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson, called on Tuesday for the Justice Department to release more Epstein documents.
Representative Lauren Boebert, a hardline Maga supporter, made her own demand, saying: "We deserve the truth about the Epstein files. I'm ready for a Special Counsel to handle this."
Goodman told GB News: "This is where all the conspiracy theorists love the way. It's why a lot of people who among the more vocal elements of Maga have been so vocal about this.
"I think the ball right now is in Pam's court. Clearly, the President has volleyed back to the Department of Justice to try to deal with this.
"I know Pam very well, and she's very solid, boots on the ground, seasoned prosecutor type who calls it like she sees it. I think there was a communication snag, though, as I call it, that interceded in all this."
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REUTERS | Attorney General Pam Bondi with Donald TrumpTrump took to his Truth social to dissuade his supporters from pressing on the issue, instead taking aim at the "radical left Democrats" over the issue.
He wrote: "Their new scam SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this 'bulls***,' hook, line, and sinker.
"They haven’t learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for eight long years."
Goodman agreed that the U-turn over the releasing of the files was due to something he dubbed as "the paranoia of imperfection" but added it was "unclear" if Trump had seen it.
REUTERS
|Donald Trump attends the commencement ceremony at West Point Military Academy in West Point,
He continued: "Trump himself talked a lot about the Epstein situation, about getting to the truth of the Epstein situation.
"But I think the reason it's taken so long, maybe to get there is something that you could assess or have seen in all sorts of situations with all sorts of public leaders in the past.
"I think what the American people want is to get this behind us. The Epstein story is years old, right? This is an old story, but it becomes a new story when there's a resistance to basically share what you've got.
"I don't have any intelligence on whether the Justice Department has anything else to share, but I think it's time to kind of bring this in for a landing."
GETTY
|Tump and his then girlfriend Melania Knauss, with Epstein and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, pictured in February 2000
Trump himself knew Epstein socially in the 1990s and early 2000s as a key figure in the New York property scene.
During the 2021 trial of Epstein's associate Ghislaine Maxwell, the financier's longtime pilot, Lawrence Visoski, testified that Trump flew on Epstein's private plane multiple times.
Trump has denied ever being on the plane and has not been accused of any wrongdoing.