California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, has made several comments in recent days pointing out President Donald Trump’s ties to deceased sex predator Jeffrey Epstein, as the president seeks to shut down questions about his administration’s refusal to release documents surrounding Epstein’s case and its claims that there is no ‘client list.’
Earlier this week, Newsom made an appearance on the Shawn Ryan Show, in which he was asked about Trump’s administration not releasing Epstein files after vowing during his campaign to release such documents.
‘The whole thing has, to me, always been a side show,’ Newsom said. ‘But I thought it got real interesting when Elon [Musk] put out that tweet and then all of a sudden a few weeks later, ‘what file?”
Newsom was referring to a since-deleted post on X in which Musk said last month that Trump ‘is in the Epstein files’ and that ‘is the real reason they have not been made public.’ Musk, a former close ally of Trump before their recent spat, has since made several more posts criticizing the administration for not releasing any Epstein ‘client list’ or making any arrests in connection to the Epstein case.
‘When Elon put that out, I thought it was a big tell,’ Newsom said.
The California governor added that Trump and Epstein knew each other, citing the images and videos of the two men together.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said earlier this year that an Epstein ‘client list’ was on her desk before the Justice Department and FBI recently claimed that Epstein killed himself and that there is no evidence he kept such a list. Bondi also walked back her earlier comments, saying she was referring to the Epstein case file, not a ‘client list.’
Trump has sought to avoid the Epstein topic as of late, repeatedly arguing the issue does not matter anymore. He also said he no longer wants the support of ‘weaklings’ who continue to press the Epstein case.
‘Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bulls—,’ hook, line, and sinker,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday.
‘I have had more success in 6 months than perhaps any President in our Country’s history, and all these people want to talk about, with strong prodding by the Fake News and the success starved Dems, is the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax,’ he added. ‘Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore!’
Trump said at the White House on Wednesday that Bondi could release ‘whatever’s credible’ related to the Epstein case as he defended her work on the matter and criticized Republicans who are still pushing for Epstein material to be released.
‘He’s dead. He’s gone,’ Trump said of Epstein. ‘And, all it is, is the Republicans, certain Republicans got duped by the Democrats, and they’re following a Democrat playbook and no different than Russia, Russia, Russia and all the other hoaxes.’
Newsom made a series of social media posts in recent days about Trump and Republicans declining to make information on the Epstein case public.
‘Why try so hard to block a list that ‘doesn’t exist’…?’ Newsom said on Tuesday, responding to news that House Republicans blocked an effort by Democrats to force the release of Epstein files.
The Golden State Democrat also wrote ‘Retweet’ in reply to a 2019 post from conservative commentator Charlie Kirk calling on Trump in his first term to order an investigation into Epstein for sex trafficking.
In another post, the governor wrote that Trump ‘calls his base ‘bad people” in response to a recent clip of the president saying he does not understand why the Epstein case would be of interest to anybody.
‘It’s pretty boring stuff,’ Trump told reporters in the clip. ‘I think only bad people want to keep something like that going.’
Newsom jokingly said he forgot about the Epstein files in response to a post Trump made announcing that Coca-Cola agreed to use real cane sugar.
‘Oh thank god! I’ve totally forgotten about the Epstein files now!’ Newsom said on Wednesday.
The governor posted a clip later on Wednesday with a picture of Trump and Epstein together, along with lyrics from the Nickelback song ‘Photograph’ that says ‘Look at this photograph.’
‘Nickelback said it best,’ Newsom wrote.