'Everyone’s involved': 6 Trump voters speak their minds on brewing scandal

Half a year into his second presidency, Donald Trump is struggling with a controversy that isn't going away: his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case. Trump and some of some of his allies want to move on from Epstein, but others in the MAGA movement are demanding that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi release alleged files on Epstein's criminal activities.

The New York Times interviewed six 2024 Trump voters, asking them to weigh in on his handling of the Epstein case. And some were more critical than others.

"Mr. Trump and Mr. Epstein had a well-documented friendship before a falling-out around 2004, and Mr. Trump has said he had no idea about Mr. Epstein's abuse of young women," the Times explains in an article published on July 25. "Mr. Trump and his allies spent years stoking conspiracy theories around Mr. Epstein's death by suicide in 2019 while he awaited sex-trafficking charges. Trump officials promised to reveal all and then backtracked and declared an end to the investigation."

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The voters weren't necessarily diehard MAGA Republicans. Erwin McKone, a 55-year-old resident of Flint, Michigan, told the Times the only reason he voted for Trump in 2024 was the Biden Administration's border policy.

McKone said of Trump and the Epstein case, "That thing will never see the light of day, and he knew it was never going to see the light of day…. They'll embarrass world leaders, business leaders, bankers. No one's ever going to see it, because everyone's involved."

Tanya Wright, a 45-year-old Yuma, Arizona voter, told the Times, "I say, just put it all out into the light. Let's follow it wherever it takes us. We don't know who did what."

Another Arizona resident, 53-year-old Rachel Uecker of Wickenburg, told the Times, "I don’t know what’s true or not true. The whole thing just makes me want to vomit."

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Naomi Villalba, who is 75 and lives in Dallas, told the Times, "I don't think he had anything to do with Jeffrey Epstein's darkness."

Brownsville, Texas resident Edward Padron, who is 67, is taking a wait-and-see approach.

Padron told the Times, "I'm still waiting to see what comes out. I'm not going to decide before having definite information."

Brian Kozlowski, a 40-year-old attorney from Orlando, Florida, agrees with Trump that it's times to move on from Epstein.

Kozlowski told the Times, "We should be doing and paying attention to a lot more important things…. It's just better not to politicize and hyper-politicize every single issue. We can be better as human beings."

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Read the full New York Times article at this link (subscription required).