Trump says he wants to "release everything" related to Epstein, but without affecting innocents

President Donald Trump affirmed Friday that he wants to "release" all the Epstein Files, but without affecting innocent people or victims of the famed financier who died by suicide, under strange circumstances, in 2019.

The president, who has been questioned in recent weeks for his handling of the Epstein case, took advantage of an interview with Rob Finnerty, host of Newsmax, to respond to the criticism, stating that, if there was any damning mention against him, Democrats would have already used it against him.

"I want to release everything—I just don't want people to get hurt. You can't have people associated," Trump told Finnerty.

"First of all, the files were run by some very bad people and very sick people—like Comey and Lisa, the whole group. You know, all those people in that office," the president continued. "They ran those files for four years. And if they were going to use the files, they would have used them before my election—unless they're stupid, which, to a certain extent, they are stupid."

"You're saying they would have released the information before the election?" The host cross-examined.

"Well, they had the files. They control the files. I didn't control the files. They controlled the files for four years. So if they had something, they would have released it before the election, because they are not geniuses—but, you know, they're evil. There are a lot of evil people," the president said.

The MAGA war over the 'Epstein Files'

President Trump's remarks come amid a public dispute within the MAGA movement. Various leading activists within the conservative movement have severely attacked the Trump Administration for its handling of the Epstein case, especially Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has failed to live up to expectations of transparency and declassification of important files.

Trump himself, fed up with the controversy, went so far as to call "traitors" some allies who harshly criticized Bondi. He also claimed to the press that he did not understand why Epstein continued to generate attention and blamed Democrats for pushing conspiracy theories against him.

Many criticized the president because, during the presidential campaign, he promised absolute transparency around the Epstein files, whose criminal past is popular with the conservative MAGA base, which believes the case was handled opaquely by the Justice Department for a long time.

Following the barrage of criticism, the president reversed his stance and ordered the DOJ to take action to satisfy his voting base. In the middle, Trump launched a legal battle against the Wall Street Journal over an allegedly escalated letter sent to Epstein that the newspaper attributed to the president. Also, top DOJ officials, in an unexpected twist, met with Epstein's ex-partner and accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, who was transferred from Florida to a minimum-security facility in Texas.

For now, the relationship between Maxwell's transfer and the meeting she held with Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche, details of which have not yet been disclosed to the public, is unknown.

In fact, there is, for the moment, no public explanation for the transfer of the convict, who faces a twenty-year prison sentence for sex trafficking.