Tucker Carlson has lobbed a grenade into the already explosive MAGA civil war over the so-called “Epstein Files.”
“The real question was not, was Jeffrey Epstein a weirdo?” Carlson said while speaking at Turning Point USA’s Student Action Summit on Friday. “The real question was, ‘Why was he doing this, on whose behalf, and where was the money coming from?’”
“I think the real answer is Jeffrey Epstein was working on behalf of intel services, probably not American,” Carlson theorized. “That foreign government is Israel.”
ADVERTISEMENT
The remarks are likely to add fuel to the raging fire that is currently engulfing the highest levels of the U.S. government. On Friday, it was revealed that FBI Director Kash Patel, Deputy Director Dan Bongino, and Attorney General Pam Bondi are in an epic three-way clash. The first two are demanding Bondi’s resignation over her handling of the Epstein case review.
While speaking at SAS in Tampa, Florida, on Friday night, Carlson used his time to rail against the Trump administration for what he sees as failing to deliver on promises made about transparency.
He claimed to have voted for Trump because of his belief that the GOP would be honest, significantly different from the Democrats, who he claimed failed to take criticism seriously, dismissing it with “shut up, racist.” Carlson further pushed back on the taboo of criticizing Israel.
“Criticizing the behavior of a government agency doesn’t make you a hater. It makes you a free person; it makes you a citizen,” Carlson added. “You’re allowed to do that because you’re not a slave.”
Bondi’s recent delivery of the Epstein case review—in which the government essentially said “case closed”—was “too much” for Carlson.
Despite the hyperbole, Carlson appears to be hitting on precisely why the handling of the Epstein case has caused such a monumental rift in the MAGA base and its top-level Trump acolytes.
“You are trying to make me shut up because I am a ‘bigot,’ like the liberals did seven months ago and that is why we voted them out,” Carlson argued. “I‘m not putting up with it. I voted against it and I will not tolerate it.”
As to why the Epstein case has such a hold on the MAGA community, Carlson explained that it’s “the frustration of normal people watching a certain class of people getting away with everything, every single time.” While he initially thought Trump might be different, he now no longer seems to believe that is the case.
If the applause that greeted Carlson’s comments at the right-wing conference is anything to go by, it seems the offense the MAGA base has taken at this perceived injustice will not be going away any time soon.
