Trump Epstein Mess Worsens as MAGA Cracks Up: “He Lame-Ducked Himself”

THE DAILY BLAST with Greg Sargent

The New Republic

News, Politics

4.4 • 800 Ratings

🗓️ 1 June 2026

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Former attorney general Pam Bondi testified behind closed doors Friday about the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. She effectively let it be known that Todd Blanche, now acting AG, has been responsible for this debacle, creating a new inquiry for Democrats to pursue that will be fraught for Trump. Bondi also went mum on how Trump instructed her to handle the Epstein files, basically declining to back Trump’s spin that he was pro-transparency, raising still more questions for Democrats to pursue. Meanwhile, Trump’s sinking approval, Iran debacle, ballroom and slush fund are fracturing Trumpworld and the GOP: One Republican told The Atlantic that he has “lame-ducked himself.” We talked to historian Nicole Hemmer, author of several books about the right. We discuss why the Epstein scandal continues to fracture the MAGA movement, the deeper reasons for Trump’s weakening hold on the GOP, and why MAGA will go into deep turmoil once Trump passes from the scene. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the Daily Blast from the New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR Network.
0:16.4	I'm your host, Greg Sargent.
0:34.8	On Friday, former Attorney General Pam Bondi testified to lawmakers behind closed doors about the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
0:41.3	What Democrats said afterwards strongly suggests that this mess is not going away for Donald Trump, and very likely will get worse next year if Democrats take back the House.
0:47.5	This comes amid other signs that the Republican lines of defense around Trump are crumbling
0:52.3	on many fronts.
0:53.9	And Trump himself may be to blame, it's his mounting on popularity that's driving it all.
1:00.4	As one Republican put it, Trump is lame ducking himself.
1:05.7	We're talking about all this with historian Nicole Hammer, who's one of our go-to people on Epstein on the right wing,
1:12.0	a topic she's written several books about. Nicole, always nice to have you on.
1:16.5	Lovely to be back, Greg.
1:18.6	So Pam Bondi, the former AG, was on Capitol Hill as part of the House's ongoing investigation into the
1:24.6	Jeffrey Epstein files, which are the investigative materials gathered as
1:28.6	part of DOJ's probe of Epstein's sex trafficking.
1:32.5	One of the big things that happened in her testimony was that she essentially threw
1:37.4	acting AG Todd Blanche under the bus.
1:40.6	Listen to Representative Robert Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee,
1:45.8	recounting what Bondi said.
1:48.0	In that interview, and what she's saying here in her words and remarks, is that it was
1:54.5	Todd Blanche, the Curring Acting AG, that was leading the Epson investigation, and quite
1:59.8	frankly, all of the mistakes that we saw,
2:03.7	the redactions, not protecting survivors, she continues to push that back onto the acting AG,
	...

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