A rift emerged within MAGA on Thursday after the White House opted to hand out much-hyped Jeffrey Epstein documents to conservative influencers instead of sharing them directly with the public.
Among those upset was Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Donald Trump ally who leads a task force that aims to declassify all the files related to the late sex offender. She called the release a “complete disappointment” and said she was not looped into the White House’s release plan.
“THIS IS NOT WHAT WE OR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ASKED FOR,” she raged, citing a New York Post article that said the docs would not contain anything new. “GET US THE INFORMATION WE ASKED FOR.”
The far-right influencer and onetime Trump confidant Laura Loomer—who did not seem to be invited to the White House soiree with her fellow online firebrands—was equally peeved. She ranted Wednesday on X, criticizing the Trump Administration for creating what was essentially a photo op on such a serious topic.
Loomer, and countless others, said the administration should have declassified every Epstein document and made them available online—something Trump said he would look into doing during his campaign.
“This level of deception is something I’d expect to see from the Biden admin,” she wrote in one post.
She added in another: “Fire the dumba-- who botched the influencer release of the Epstein Files today. I mean the non release since we were all lied to.”
Loomer was not among the group of conservative influencers invited to the White House. Those who were included Rogan O’Handley, who runs a page called DC Draino on X; Chaya Raichik, the founder of Libs of TikTok; Mike Cernovich, a promoter of Pizzagate; and many more—such as the founder fraternity brand Old Row.
Jessica Reed Kraus, who writes the House Inhabit newsletter, said she also received a binder. She claimed on Instagram that Trump met with a group of 15 influencers and credited them with his 2024 election win. She also addressed the growing outrage to how the White House rolled out the Epstein files.
“I know a lot of people are upset on X that only a select few were given the files before mainstream media, but I don’t feel bad,” she said in a story post.
She added in another story post that Trump gave out MAGA swag, including a red hat that has white text reading in all caps, “Trump was right about everything.”
Driving outrage is that those who received the coveted Epstein binder did not immediately share it with their followers. Emily Austin, a sports journalist who has recently been embraced by MAGA, went live on X to show her followers some of its pages to address the outcry. She pulled off the road to show its contents, she said.
Other influencers were slammed for smiling and holding up the binders as they walked out of the Oval Office. Among the critics was Julie K. Brown, the Miami Herald journalist who has broke a number of Epstein stories over the years.
“The sexual abuse of children is not funny—or cause to hold up files containing their agony as if it was some celebration,” she said.
Even the conservative radio commentator Glenn Beck was annoyed by Thursday’s White House antics.
“Who is subverting POTUS?” he said, calling the “#Epsteinfiles” a “total joke.”
Congressional Republicans tried to make light of their constituents outrage. The House Judiciary Committee Republicans’ official X account posted a link to what it claimed was the Epstein files, but it was really just a rickroll video on YouTube. The comments under that post were filled with outrage, disgust, and a community note.
“There’s still time to delete this,” wrote Ron DeSantis’ staffer Christina Pushaw. Her response received over 500 likes in 30 minutes.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said 200 pages of the Epstein files have been withheld from her by the FBI’s office in New York. She penned a fiery letter to the bureau that demanded the unredacted pages be handed over to her by Friday morning.
