White House briefs conservative influencers on Epstein files
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The Trump administration gave an exclusive briefing Thursday to more than a dozen conservative influencers about files it plans to make public about the late financier and child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Why it matters: The meeting illustrated how the Trump administration is circumventing the mainstream media and instead working with pro-MAGA social media figures to release information.
Zoom in: Rogan O'Handley (better known on X as "DC Draino") posted Thursday afternoon that he had met in the Oval Office with President Trump, Vice President Vance and Attorney General Pam Bondi — and had been given a "binder copy of the Epstein files."
- "This is the most transparent administration in American history," O'Handley wrote.
- He attached a picture of himself and other influencers smiling and holding up white binders titled "The Epstein Files: Phase 1." It was not clear what the binders contained.
Zoom out: Conservative influencers have long been fixated on Epstein, who died in prison in 2019 while facing federal charges of child sex trafficking.
- Many influencers have expressed doubt on the official medical examiner findings that Epstein — who through the years had associated with a wide range of political figures and celebrities — died by suicide.
Other social media figures present at Thursday's briefing included Collin Rugg, Isabel Brown and conservative activist Scott Presler, a person familiar with the event told Axios. Jack Posobiec, another pro-Trump influencer, also took to X to discuss the Epstein files.
- The influencers also met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and border czar Tom Homan.
- The White House's push to include more conservative and non-mainstream outlets also has included inviting their influencers and correspondents into routine press briefings.
- This week the administration took control of the daily press pool from the White House Correspondents' Association, saying it wanted to open up pool opportunities to more outlets.
This story has been updated with news of the administration briefing the influencers on the Epstein files.
