'Timing couldn't be worse': How Epstein bombshell disrupted Trump's planned 'victory lap'

17 July 2025

CNN host Anderson Cooper and Politico White House bureau chief Dasha Burns on July 17, 2025 (Image: Screengrab via CNN / YouTube)

Politico White House bureau chief Dasha Burns warned on Thursday that the timing of the controversy surrounding President Donald Trump's link to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein “couldn’t be worse,” noting it coincides with what the administration had hoped would be a summer dominated by legislative victories and diplomatic successes."

During an appearance on CNN, she told host Anderson Cooper that the Epstein controversy emerged just as the White House believed it had “the wind at their backs” after passing key legislation and diplomatic wins.

The controversy escalated when The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday evening that a collection of letters presented to Epstein on his 50th birthday in 2003 included a risqué, leather-bound album curated by Ghislaine Maxwell. Among the entries was a note attributed to Trump, featuring typewritten lines encircled by the outline of a naked woman and ending with: “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”

Trump denied writing the note and threatened to sue The Journal.

Burns described how the White House assumed it could ride out the Epstein storm, especially after Trump administration figures like FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino, who had previously floated conspiracy theories, reassured the MAGA base.

"They did not expect this revolt and this sort of cannibalism of one of their own — some of their own. It’s fascinating," she said, noting that story has taken a drastic turn.

"The timing couldn't be worse here because they thought that they were going to spend the summer doing a victory lap all across the country, and instead they're they're under scrutiny of their own supporters," Burns said.

She continued: "They think that they have such legitimacy because they did that… I’m not sure why they’re so surprised by that turn of events.”

The unexpected backlash, she added, has fractured what was once an unbreakable bond between Trump and his MAGA base — “a break within the MAGA coalition” brought on by Trump himself criticizing his own supporters."

Burns also highlighted the toll on broader momentum.

“This is coming at a time when they thought — and they really felt — that they had the wind at their backs ... He’s trying to play peacemaker all over the world. And the president and his allies feel like he is getting so much done.”

Instead, she warned, the Epstein report has stalled that push and diverted attention from a planned “victory lap” through the summer.

Commenting on Trump’s response, Burns revealed that “everything that I’m hearing is that President Trump does not want to do anything else on this… he is not interested in a special prosecutor, and he’s really not interested in dredging up any more of this.”

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