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A majority of Americans disapprove how President Donald Trump and his administration have handled the files related to late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, according to a new poll released on Wednesday (July 16).
The survey, which was conducted by Quinnipiac University, showed that 63% of voters disapprove of the way the Trump administration has handled the Epstein files, while 17% approved and 20% didn't offer an opinion. Republicans were reportedly split with 40% approving the administration's handling of the Epstein files, 36% disapproving and 24% refraining from giving an opinion, according to the poll.
Democrats and independents were both overwhelmingly against the administration's actions with an 83% and 71% disapproval rate, respectively.
"Epstein has been dead and gone for years but his tawdry legacy looms large in a country wanting to know more about who he knew and whether secrets have been buried with him," said Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy.
Podcaster Joe Rogan, who staunchly supported Trump in the 2024 presidential election, criticized the administration's announcement claiming there was never a list or footage revealing Epstein's alleged clients, which was a talking point of conservative pundits for years.
“They’ve got videotape and all [of] a sudden they don’t,” Rogan said on the episode of his Joe Rogan Experience podcast released on Tuesday (July 15).
“You had the director of the FBI on this show saying, ‘If there was [a videotape], nothing you’re looking for is on those tapes,'” he added, referring to FBI Director Kash Patel's appearance on his podcast in June. “Like, what? Why’d they say there was thousands of hours of tapes of people doing horrible s–t? Why’d they say that? Didn’t [Attorney General] Pam Bondi say that?"
Bondi had previously claimed that the supposed Epstein list was on her desk awaiting review months ago and told reporters that the FBI was reviewing "tens of thousands of videos" of Epstein "with children or child porn" on July 1 before the DOJ suddenly announced that there was no "Epstein list" or incriminating footage of his associates days later. President Trump spent months claiming he had plans to release everything the government had on Epstein and his alleged associates, which included releasing The Epstein Files: Phase 1 in February, though the files revealed next to no new information.
Trump, who had been photographed alongside Epstein in the past, claimed that he never visited the financier's notorious private island where numerous underage girls and young women were sexually abused, but claimed "a lot of people did."