US President Donald Trump has said Attorney General Pam Bondi should release “whatever she thinks is credible” on sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as he faces a rare backlash from supporters after seeking to draw a line under the case.Bondi has been lambasted by some of Trump’s political base after she said last week there was no evidence that Epstein kept a “client list” or was blackmailing powerful figures.At the weekend Trump urged supporters not to “waste time and energy” on the controversy. But allies of the president, including House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, are calling for “transparency”. Epstein’s 2019 death in a US prison while awaiting federal trial was ruled a suicide.But many in Trump’s Make America Great Again (Maga) movement have theorised that details of the well-connected convicted paedophile’s crimes have been withheld in order to protect influential figures, or intelligence agencies.On Tuesday, Trump praised his attorney general’s handling of the matter, saying: “She’s handled it very well, and it’s going to be up to her. Whatever she thinks is credible, she should release.”When asked by a journalist if the attorney general had told Trump whether his name appeared in any of the records, he said: “No, no.”Later on Tuesday, the president again called for the release of “credible” information, but he questioned the enduring fascination with the Epstein case, calling it “sordid but boring”.”Only really bad people, including the fake news, want to keep something like this going,” Trump said. Last week he vented frustration in the Oval Office about the fixation on Epstein and urged everyone to move on.But some Republican allies of the president are not letting go of the matter.In an interview on Tuesday with US conservative commentator Benny Johnson, Speaker Johnson said that he trusted President Trump and his team, and that …
