Category: Politics

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump’s signature tax and spending megabill could alter aspects of K-12 and higher education in the coming years, according to education advocates on both sides of the aisle.

After a monthslong process on Capitol Hill, the highly anticipated law will significantly reform the student loan process and broaden school choice options for families and the education community at large.

Here’s how the new law, which also brings massive cuts to government benefits such as Medicaid and increases funding for immigration enforcement, potentially changes education for millions of Americans.

Student loans

The megabill pushed through several House Republican policies aimed at reforming higher education — including with student loans.

The new law terminates all current student loan repayment plans for loans disbursed on or after July 1, 2026. They will be replaced with two separate plans: a standard repayment plan and a new income-based repayment plan called the Repayment Assistance Plan, according to the text of the megabill.

The Department of Education released a statement that said these new plans are currently impacted by legal challenges, urging borrowers on the Biden-era Income Driven Repayment plans to consider enrolling in an income-based repayment plan.

With this new process, Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg, a Republican, said he believes struggling borrowers will receive the assistance needed to repay loans without saddling taxpayers with that burden.

The new law also establishes loan limits for parent borrowers and terminates graduate and professional plus loans — designed to help graduate and professional students pay for school — for their degrees and certificates.

Earlier this year, Education Secretary Linda McMahon applauded the megabill for simplifying the “overly complex” repayment process and reducing borrowing amounts to “help curb rising tuition costs.”

The Student Borrower Protection Center, which focuses on eliminating the burden of student debt, denounced the provisions in the bill. Aissa Canchola Bañez, the center’s policy director, described it as a crushing blow to millions of Americans already struggling to cover college costs.

“This bill is a dangerous attack on students, working families and communities across the country,” she said, adding that it is “shredding the student loan safety net, weakening protections and pushing millions of students and families into the riskier and more expensive private student loan market.”

National Parents Union President Keri Rodrigues warned the new policies in Trump’s megabill are leading to a “difficult moment for American families.”

Rodrigues fears a $65,000 lifetime limit on Parent PLUS loans — which provide money to parents for their children to attend college — could eliminate a pathway to “economic mobility.”

“It’s going to mean a lot of hardship for kids and for families across the country,” she said.

School choice

Conservatives are celebrating the law as it continues to deliver on a long-standing pledge from the Trump administration to give power to parents and reduce education bureaucracy in Washington through universal school choice — something McMahon has pushed to see expanded nationwide.

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy’s Educational Choice for Children Act tax credit, a provision included within the megabill, provides a charitable donation incentive for individuals and businesses to fund scholarship awards for students to cover expenses related to K-12 public and private education starting in 2027.

Republican Rep. Adrian Smith, who co-sponsored the House legislation, told ABC News it removes the “politics” from school-funding formulas that haven’t served students’ best interests.

“Students deserve the opportunity to succeed in the setting which best meets their needs, and this investment will open new doors for millions of American families,” Smith said.

Tommy Schultz, CEO of the conservative American Federation for Children, noted the change is a monumental step toward every state achieving school choice.

“AFC will work to ensure that governors and state leaders listen to their constituents and bring educational freedom to every state in the nation, and to as many families as possible,” Schultz said in a statement to ABC News. “We will continue to fight to ensure that this tax credit scholarship is well-implemented and expanded as soon as possible.”

Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono is a staunch opponent of the president’s education policies and the Republican tax credit, saying it strips public schools of its resources and enriches wealthy families.

“What [the ECCA] does is it is yet another big tax break for rich people who can afford to contribute these kinds of funds — so mainly the people who will take advantage of this will be kids who are already going to private schools,” Hirono explained.

“Not much of a choice,” she quipped.

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten also slammed the bill for promoting a “massive and unprecedented transfer of wealth from everyday people to billionaires.”

“It writes a permanent school voucher scheme into the tax code that would redirect billions of dollars each year to private schools — even as our public schools, which educate 90 percent of all students, remain woefully underfunded,” Weingarten said in a statement to ABC News.

Despite the public school debate, Sen. Cassidy and education advocates argue no child should be “trapped” in a failing school.

Dr. Eva Moskowitz is the CEO of Success Academy Charter Schools, the highest-performing free public charter school network in New York City, and told ABC News that it’s time to move on from the public education “monopoly.”

“We have a solution right in front of us: high-performing charter schools and a scholarship program for the private school choice,” Moskowitz said. “This is the most concrete, pragmatic, thing we can do today to impact hundreds of thousands of children.”

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(NEW YORK) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio emerged from a 40-minute meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday with an acknowledgment that talks between Moscow and Kyiv for peace in Ukraine have not progressed much.

Rubio said he shared President Donald Trump’s “disappointment and frustration” with his Russian counterparts as the president has expressed distrust in Russian President Vladimir Putin and reversed his administration’s pause on weapons to Ukraine.

“We get a lot of bull**** thrown at us by Putin,” Trump said at the White House on Tuesday. “He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”

The president is “disappointed and frustrated that there’s not been more flexibility on the Russian side to bring about an end to this conflict,” Rubio said.

Hours before Rubio’s scheduled meeting with Lavrov, their first face-to-face since February, Russia launched a “massive combined strike” of 18 missiles and 400 drones, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The attacks killed two and injured 16, and followed 10 days of drone strikes, which have often broken single-night records — and have marked a shift as Russia continues its summer offensive.

Trump said earlier this week that he was “very unhappy” with Moscow’s latest attacks on Kyiv — and said he is “looking at” an effort by congressional GOP to impose greater sanctions on Russia.

“As has been pointed out, we’ve seen an acceleration of attacks,” Rubio said. “I think it’s probably the largest drone attack in a city close to the Polish border, actually. So it’s a pretty deep strike.”

“I don’t want to overpromise,” he said about talks, citing Russia’s offensive.

Rubio said Russia brought a “new and different approach” to the negotiating table Thursday, but he tempered expectations about a development toward peace.

“I wouldn’t characterize it as something that guarantees peace,” he said.

The bilateral talks between the nations’ top diplomats — held on the sidelines of a summit for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Malaysia — come after Trump said Tuesday he approved the transfer of defensive weapons to Ukraine because Putin is “killing too many people.”

The announcement appeared to reverse a Pentagon-ordered pause last week on some munitions scheduled for Ukraine. Rubio said it was “mischaracterized” in the press and was merely a “pause, pending review” of munitions that were both defensive and offensive.

“Generally speaking, aid to Ukraine continues along the schedule that Congress appropriated,” Rubio said.

Meanwhile, momentum on Capitol Hill for a bill to sanction Russia’s energy industry is building.

After Trump said he was looking at the package “very closely,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Wednesday “there’s a lot of interest in moving it.”

Rubio said that “we told [the Russians] that the moment would come where something like this could happen,” adding that Trump would need “flexibility” on enforcement of the sanctions regime.

Rubio wouldn’t say whether that moment had arrived, saying it was a question for the president.

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(NEW YORK) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio emerged from a 40-minute meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday with an acknowledgment that talks between Moscow and Kyiv for peace in Ukraine have not progressed much.

Rubio said he shared President Donald Trump’s “disappointment and frustration” with his Russian counterparts as the president has expressed distrust in Russian President Vladimir Putin and reversed his administration’s pause on weapons to Ukraine.

“We get a lot of bull**** thrown at us by Putin,” Trump said at the White House on Tuesday. “He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”

The president is “disappointed and frustrated that there’s not been more flexibility on the Russian side to bring about an end to this conflict,” Rubio said.

Hours before Rubio’s scheduled meeting with Lavrov, their first face-to-face since February, Russia launched a “massive combined strike” of 18 missiles and 400 drones, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The attacks killed two and injured 16, and followed 10 days of drone strikes, which have often broken single-night records — and have marked a shift as Russia continues its summer offensive.

Trump said earlier this week that he was “very unhappy” with Moscow’s latest attacks on Kyiv — and said he is “looking at” an effort by congressional GOP to impose greater sanctions on Russia.

“As has been pointed out, we’ve seen an acceleration of attacks,” Rubio said. “I think it’s probably the largest drone attack in a city close to the Polish border, actually. So it’s a pretty deep strike.”

“I don’t want to overpromise,” he said about talks, citing Russia’s offensive.

Rubio said Russia brought a “new and different approach” to the negotiating table Thursday, but he tempered expectations about a development toward peace.

“I wouldn’t characterize it as something that guarantees peace,” he said.

The bilateral talks between the nations’ top diplomats — held on the sidelines of a summit for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Malaysia — come after Trump said Tuesday he approved the transfer of defensive weapons to Ukraine because Putin is “killing too many people.”

The announcement appeared to reverse a Pentagon-ordered pause last week on some munitions scheduled for Ukraine. Rubio said it was “mischaracterized” in the press and was merely a “pause, pending review” of munitions that were both defensive and offensive.

“Generally speaking, aid to Ukraine continues along the schedule that Congress appropriated,” Rubio said.

Meanwhile, momentum on Capitol Hill for a bill to sanction Russia’s energy industry is building.

After Trump said he was looking at the package “very closely,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Wednesday “there’s a lot of interest in moving it.”

Rubio said that “we told [the Russians] that the moment would come where something like this could happen,” adding that Trump would need “flexibility” on enforcement of the sanctions regime.

Rubio wouldn’t say whether that moment had arrived, saying it was a question for the president.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Bryan Bedford as FAA administrator, putting a former airline executive in charge of the agency responsible for ensuring the safety and efficiency of the nation’s air travel.

The final vote was 53-43.

Bedford, who previously served as CEO of Republic Airways, retired from the position last week after leading the airline for more than 25 years. During his tenure, Republic became one of the largest regional carriers in the nation.

His nomination narrowly cleared the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation vote by 15-13, with all Republican senators voting in favor and all Democrats against.

While Bedford’s nomination has received widespread support from across the aviation industry, he has faced criticism over his position on the FAA’s 1,500-hour flight training rule.

The FAA rule requires pilots have 1,500 hours experience in the cockpit before they can fly for a commercial airline.

The rule was implemented in 2013, in response to the 2009 Colgan Air crash, after an NTSB investigation cited the flight crews’s inadequate training and qualifications as a key safety issue.

In 2022, the FAA rejected a petition from Republic Airways seeking an exemption for its pilots from the 1500-hour rule — calling for it to be brought down to 750 flying hours if the pilots met certain other requirements.

The FAA denied the request, saying “if a reduction in hours was appropriate, an exemption is not the appropriate vehicle with which to make such a determination.”

During his nomination hearing, senators questioned Bedford about his position on the 1,500-hour rule and whether he’d try to change it once becoming FAA administrator.

Illinois Democratic Sen. Duckworth pressed Bedford multiple times over his commitment to the 1500-hour rule. Bedford never answered the question, saying he does not “believe safety is static” since pilot training has changed over time, but reiterated that safety is a priority.

“I will not roll back safety,” Bedford told the committee. “There won’t be safety loopholes. I commit to you. We will never do anything to reduce the safety and competency of our pilots.”

Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell, the panel’s top Democrat, notably voted against advancing Bedford’s nomination out of committee.

Prior to the committee vote, Cantwell released a statement opposing his confirmation, saying Bedford “repeatedly refused to commit to upholding the 1500-hour rule and refused to recuse himself for his full term from granting his own company an exemption from this critical safety requirement.”

Scrutiny over Bedford’s position on the rule comes at a pivotal moment for aviation safety which has been in the spotlight since January’s mid-air collision between an American Airlines flight and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter that killed everyone onboard both aircraft.

Following Bedford’s confirmation, the pilots union released a statement congratulating Bedford and expressing a commitment to working with him, while also reiterating concerns over his position on the pilot training requirements.

“We have concerns about his past efforts to lower pilot training requirements, and we will continue to bring the line pilot’s perspective to any discussions about changing these life-saving measures and hold him to his word that safety is his top priority,” Capt. Jason Ambrosi, president of the Air Line Pilots Association said in a statement. “Maintaining rigorous training requirements and keeping two pilots on the flight deck at all times remain top priorities for ALPA.”

Airlines for America and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association also released statements congratulating Bedford and reiterating their commitment to working with him to ensure aviation safety and to overhaul and modernize the nation’s air traffic control systems and facilities.

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(WASHINGTON) — Roughly 8 million student loan borrowers will see their interest charges restart next month, the Department of Education announced Wednesday.

Borrowers on the Biden-era Saving on a Valuable Education Plan — about 7.7 million people — will have interest charges return on Aug. 1 after a yearlong pause on payments. The return to interest charges was first reported by Bloomberg.

“For years, the Biden Administration used so-called ‘loan forgiveness’ promises to win votes, but federal courts repeatedly ruled that those actions were unlawful,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon wrote in a statement released by the department Wednesday. “Since day one of the Trump Administration, we’ve focused on strengthening the student loan portfolio and simplifying repayment to better serve borrowers.”

The education department said it’s complying with a federal court injunction that blocked implementation of the SAVE Plan earlier this year. But education advocates told ABC News that this move is expected to severely impact those millions of borrowers on SAVE who could potentially enter into more debt as interest accrues in the coming weeks.

Student Borrower Protection Center Executive Director Mike Pierce called the move by the Trump administration a “betrayal” and blasted Secretary of Education Linda McMahon.

“Instead of fixing the broken student loan system, Secretary McMahon is choosing to drown millions of people in unnecessary interest charges and blaming unrelated court cases for her own mismanagement,” Pierce wrote in a statement to ABC News.

SBPC, which focuses on eliminating the burden of debt for Americans, estimates borrowers will pay $3,500 in interest a year on average, which amounts to $27 billion in total, according to an analysis obtained by ABC News.

“Every day we hear from borrowers waiting on hold with their servicer for hours, begging the government to let them out of this forbearance and help them get back on track — instead McMahon is choosing to jack up the cost of their student debt without giving them a way out. These are teachers, nurses and retail workers who trusted the government’s word, only to get sucker-punched by bills that will now cost them hundreds more every month. McMahon is turning a lifeline into a trap, and fueling one of the biggest wealth grabs from working families in modern history,” Pierce said.

The Trump administration said it will support borrowers in selecting a “new, legal repayment plan” that best fits their needs and will begin direct outreach to borrowers enrolled in the SAVE Plan, with “instructions on how to move to a legal repayment plan,” the release said.

For now, SAVE borrowers are still on a forbearance period, which postpones their payments. The SAVE Plan, dubbed the most affordable payment plan ever by the Biden administration, started after the Supreme Court struck down then-President Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness plan in 2023.

SAVE is an Income Driven Repayment (IDR) program aimed at easing the return to repayment for millions of Americans that calculates payment size based on income and family size.

The interest restart comes as President Donald Trump recently signed into law his signature domestic policy agenda, which included a provision to terminate all current student loan repayment plans — such as SAVE and other IDRs — for loans disbursed on or after July 1, 2026. They will be replaced with two separate repayment plans: a standard repayment plan and a new income-based repayment plan called the Repayment Assistance Plan, according to the text of the megabill. The repayment plans are affected by legal challenges as well, according to the Department of Education release.

The department is urging SAVE borrowers to consider enrolling in the income-based repayment plan authorized under the Higher Education Act until it can launch the Repayment Assistance Plan.

In May, some 5 million Americans with defaulted student loan payments — which means they hadn’t paid their debts for around nine months or 270 days — had their loans sent for collections for the first time since student loan payments were paused due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier this year, McMahon said she has worked to simplify the “overly complex” repayment process and said taxpayers will no longer be responsible for the “irresponsible student loan policies” of the previous administration.

“The Biden Administration misled borrowers: the executive branch does not have the constitutional authority to wipe debt away, nor do the loan balances simply disappear,” McMahon wrote in a department release this spring.

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(WASHINGTON) — Dr. Kevin O’Connor, former President Joe Biden’s physician, didn’t answer questions when he briefly appeared before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday for a closed-door, transcribed interview.

O’Connor was subpoenaed by Committee Chairman James Comer as part of a Republican-led investigation into Biden’s mental fitness and use of a presidential autopen while in office.

O’Connor’s lawyer, David Schertler, said in a statement that the doctor “asserted the physician-patient privilege, as well as his right under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, in declining to answer questions from the staff of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform regarding his service as Physician to the President during the Biden Administration.”

Comer also said the doctor continuously pleaded the Fifth Amendment — a right to refuse to answer questions where someone might incriminate themself.

“This is unprecedented. And I think this adds more fuel to the fire that there was a cover up,” the congressman said.

O’Connor didn’t take any questions from reporters when he arrived and left the Rayburn House Office Building on Wednesday morning.

Doctors have a legal obligation to not talk about things like patient interactions, diagnosis, and treatments. Sharing this information can lead to civil and criminal penalties, according to the Department of Health & Human Services.

The House Oversight Committee has requested interviews with several of Biden’s former White House aides in light of a reports questioning his mental fitness in his final year in office and alleged efforts by those around him to conceal it — allegations Biden has vehemently denied.

Neera Tanden, who served as the director of the White House Domestic Policy Council under Biden, sat for testimony in late June. When asked after by reporters if there was an effort to disguise Biden’s condition, Tanden replied: “Absolutely not.”

Comer said on Wednesday the GOP probe will continue.

“We have several other witnesses that are going to come in for transcribed interviews,” he said.

The White House waived executive privilege for O’Connor ahead of his appearance. The House Oversight Committee previously requested O’Connor and aides sit for interviews while Biden was president, but Biden blocked the request.

Months after leaving the White House, Biden was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer.

Biden rejected reports of cognitive decline during an appearance on ABC’s “The View” in early May, before his office announced his cancer diagnosis.

“They are wrong. There’s nothing to sustain that,” Biden said at the time.

Former first lady Jill Biden, in the same interview, pushed back forcefully to accusations she shielded Biden from allies and the public.

“I did not create a cocoon around him. I mean, you saw him in the Oval Office. You saw him making speeches. He wasn’t hiding somewhere,” she said.

Since then, former president Biden has spoken at some events, including at the Society for Human Resource Management’s annual conference in San Diego last week, where he reflected on his leadership and career.

ABC News’ Eric Strauss contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — Dr. Kevin O’Connor, former President Joe Biden’s physician, appeared before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday for a closed-door, transcribed interview.

O’Connor was subpoenaed by Committee Chairman James Comer as part of a Republican-led investigation into Biden’s mental fitness and use of a presidential autopen while in office.

O’Connor didn’t take any questions from reporters when he arrived and left the Rayburn House Office Building on Wednesday morning.

Ahead of the meeting, Comer said the committee has “a lot of questions” for the doctor.

“Dr. O’Connor’s reports were glowing with how healthy the president was. I think the president — the state of the president’s health is the transparency that we all expect. The president of the United States is the most powerful person in the world. The American people have a right to know the health condition of the president, both fiscal and mental,” Comer said.

The House Oversight Committee has requested interviews with several of Biden’s former White House aides in light of a reports questioning his mental fitness in his final year in office and alleged efforts by those around him to cover it up.

Neera Tanden, who served as the director of the White House Domestic Policy Council under Biden, sat for testimony in late June. When asked after by reporters if there was an effort to disguise Biden’s condition, Tanden replied: “Absolutely not.”

The committee intended to get answers from O’Connor about his medical assessments of Biden.

“The Committee continues to investigate the circumstances surrounding your assessment in February 2024 that former President Biden was ‘a healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male, who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency,'” Comer wrote in his letter to O’Connor in May.

The White House waived executive privilege for O’Connor ahead of his appearance. The House Oversight Committee previously requested O’Connor and aides sit for interviews while Biden was president, but Biden blocked the request.

Months after leaving the White House, Biden was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer.

Biden rejected reports of cognitive decline during an appearance on ABC’s “The View” in early May, before his office announced his cancer diagnosis.

“They are wrong. There’s nothing to sustain that,” Biden said at the time.

Former first lady Jill Biden, in the same interview, pushed back forcefully to accusations she shielded Biden from allies and the public.

“I did not create a cocoon around him. I mean, you saw him in the Oval Office. You saw him making speeches. He wasn’t hiding somewhere,” she said.

Since then, former president Biden has spoken at some events, including at the Society for Human Resource Management’s annual conference in San Diego last week, where he reflected on his leadership and career.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court is allowing President Donald Trump to move forward with an executive order mandating a restructure of federal agencies and mass layoffs of federal workers.

In a two paragraph unsigned order, the court explained that it was lifting a preliminary injunction issued by a district court in California because “the government is likely to succeed on its argument that the Executive Order and [OMB] memorandum are lawful.”

The court noted, however, that the justices “express no view on the legality of any Agency RIF [reduction in force] and Reorganization Plan produces or approved” by the administration under Trump’s direction. “Those plans are not before this Court,” it said.

The decision, another victory for Trump at the Supreme Court, allows the government to begin taking steps to dramatically overhaul 21 agencies and departments, including the departments of Commerce, Health and Human Services, Energy, Treasury and State.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a brief statement concurring with the court’s decision, emphasized that the legality of the administration’s plans themselves has not yet been answered.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the sole dissent in the matter. In a 15-page opinion, the junior justice called the decision “not only truly unfortunate but also hubristic and senseless.”

 

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday suggested a federal takeover of New York City and Washington.

The comments came when Trump, during a meeting of his Cabinet at the White House, was asked about New York City’s upcoming mayoral election.

Trump attacked Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani, who describes himself as a democratic socialist, and ticked through the other contenders, including Eric Adams, Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa, though he declined to endorse anyone.

“We’re not going to have — if a communist gets elected to run New York, it can never be the same. But we have tremendous power at the White House to run places when we have to,” Trump said.

Trump didn’t elaborate on what authority that would be as he then turned his focus to the nation’s capital.

“We could run D.C. We’re looking at D.C. We don’t want crime in D.C. We want the city to run well,” he said. He said his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, was working with Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser.

Trump has long called for the federal government to takeover Washington, complaining that local leaders weren’t effective and arguing the city has become riddled with crime.

According to preliminary data from the Metropolitan Police Department, violent crime is down 25% from this time last year and all crime is down 8%.

“We would run it so good, it would be run so proper, we’d get the best person to run it,” Trump said about Washington on Tuesday. “And we know the crime would be down to a minimum, would be much less. And, you know, we’re thinking about doing it, to be honest with you.”

“We want a capital that’s run flawlessly, and it wouldn’t be hard for us to do it. And we’ve had a good relationship with the mayor and we’re testing it to see if it works,” he said.

The district has some autonomy under the 1973 Home Rule Act, which grants residents the ability to manage affairs by electing a mayor and city council members. But final oversight of the district’s laws and budget are left to Congress. In 2023, for example, the U.S. House of Representatives blocked two local bills from going into effect, including one that would have updated the district’s criminal code.

Trump circled back to talking about New York City, railing against the city’s ranked-choice voting and describing his relationship with Mayor Adams as a “test.”

“New York City will run properly,” he said. “We’re going to bring New York back.”

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump’s MAGA base has erupted in outrage over the Justice Department and FBI’s memo stating they found no evidence that notorious deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein kept a “client list,” with many of the president’s most loyal allies blasting the administration’s leadership.

Some of Trump’s most die-hard supporters have spent the past day blasting FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino, both one-time MAGA-world darlings themselves, over the Epstein memo. However, the harshest backlash seems to be focused on Attorney General Pam Bondi, with many pro-Trump voices criticizing her over her mixed messaging regarding the Epstein files and multiple supporters calling for her to resign.

Bondi had previously promised the public release of scores of records associated with federal probes into Epstein, though in recent interviews she has claimed the delay was attributed to “tens of thousands” of videos within FBI’s possession showing potential pornography of minors.

During a Fox News interview in February, Bondi suggested an alleged Epstein “client list” was sitting on her desk — though no “client list” has been disclosed, and multiple sources have told ABC News that no such list has ever surfaced.

Asked about Bondi’s comments about the list, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed Bondi wasn’t referring to any “client list.”

“She was saying the entirety of all of the paperwork, all of the paper in relation to Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes. That’s what the attorney general was referring to,” Leavitt said during the White House press briefing Monday.

On Tuesday, Bondi said she was referring to a file on Epstein.

“In February, I did an interview on Fox, and it’s been getting a lot of attention because I said I was asked a question about the client list, and my response was, it’s sitting on my desk to be reviewed, meaning the file along with the JFK, MLK files as well. That’s what I meant by that,” Bondi said during a Cabinet meeting.

In late February, Bondi handed out binders with Epstein case files to pro-Trump social media influencers at the White House — files that ultimately contained little new information. As ABC News reported at the time, the move caught White House officials off guard and outraged some supporters of the president, who had been promised that more details would be made public.

Now, Trump supporters are voicing their frustrations with Bondi — and others saying the Trump administration is involved in a cover-up.

Far-right activist Laura Loomer has called for Bondi to resign. Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon spoke at length about the memo on his popular “War Room” show on Monday, even questioning if the administration is as transparent as it claims it would be. Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has accused the Trump administration of being part of a “cover-up” and at one point posted a video from his car where he broke down in tears talking about it.

Loomer isn’t the only MAGA world voice calling for Bondi to resign. Pro-Trump influencers the Hodgetwins also called on Trump to fire Bondi — and so did American conservative political commentator Liz Wheeler. Mike Cernovich, a past Pizzagate conspiracy pusher, posted that “No one is believing the Epstein coverup, @realDonaldTrump. This will be part of your legacy. There’s still time to change it!”

Michael Flynn, who served in Trump’s first administration and was pardoned by the president, called the Trump administration’s memo “another brutal and stark example of the two different standards we appear to adhere to in the United States” in a social media post on Monday — adding, “This has to change and quickly.”

The response from MAGA influencers who feel betrayed by the Justice Department memo marks some of the most vocal backlash Trump’s administration has faced from his own loyal supporters during his second term.

The Epstein files for years have been the subject of widespread speculation and conspiracy theories that the government was covering up information and a supposed “client list” to protect powerful businessmen and politicians.

Now, Trump’s administration — being led by some of the same MAGA voices such as Patel, who once pushed the idea of a cover-up — is trying to explain that no such evidence exists.

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