JUST IN: Trump Under Fire For New Shocking Statement Regarding Epstein

President Donald Trump once again leaned into his pushback against a MAGA base demanding transparency in the government’s Jeffrey Epstein investigation, sharply criticizing his detractors as “stupid” and “foolish” in controversial new comments.

The remarks built on earlier ones Trump made this week where he questioned the earnestness of critics calling for a full release of documents in the case. In a Truth Social post on Sunday, he lamented his followers’ fascination with the late pedophile and philanthropist who he stated has “been dead a long time.”

Asked to clarify whether the roiling debate is part of a “hoax” being perpetuated by Democrats, Trump responded in kind.

“A big hoax,” Trump replied, adding that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi is not encouraging him to say so.

“I know it’s a hoax. It’s started by Democrats. It’s been run by the Democrats for four years,” he went on, referencing former FBI Directors Christopher Wray and James Comey.

“It’s a bad group, and you had people before them. It started– look at the Steele dossier, it turned out to be a total hoax. The 51 agents, the 51 so-called intelligence agents. It’s all been a big hoax. It is perpetrated by the Democrats and some stupid Republicans and foolish Republicans fall into the net. And so they try to do the Democrats‘ work.”

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Trump’s comments are far from what his base wants to hear, and they come as a growing number of lawmakers on Capitol Hill call for further disclosures by Bondi and the U.S. Department of Justice.

On Tuesday House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) became the most prominent voice to say he is “for transparency” and wants Bondi to “put everything out there and let the people decide” in an interview with conservative influencer Benny Johnson.

Johnson later tried to close the distance between his position and Trump’s, declaring on Wednesday that his initial comments were “misrepresented” by the mainstream media.

“Go watch the interview I did with Benny Johnson. I was very clear,” Johnson told reporters in the Capitol, per The Hill. “We’re for transparency. I’m saying the same thing the president is that, I mean, you need to have all of the credible information released for the American people to make their decision. We trust the American people. And I know the president does, as well, that’s an important principle to abide by here.”

Johnson went on to echo President Trump’s concerns that sensitive information about victims and innocent parties may be included in an unredacted disclosure.

“What they have to do — what the president has to do — is protect the innocent,” he said. “There are whistleblowers’ and minors’ names involved in things related to Epstein, obviously, and you’ve got to be careful not to release that.”

Those concerns were dismissed by MAGA leaders like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who said earlier in the week that the DOJ should err on the side of transparency after years of Trump and leaders of his administration calling for the same.

“I have to be honest,” Greene said on CNN Monday. “It’s just a red line that it crosses for many people: Jeffrey Epstein is literally the most well-known, convicted pedophile in modern-day history. This is something that’s been talked about by many people serving in the administration, myself and many others on the right and the left, of there needing to be transparency of the rich and powerful elites that were in his circle while he was just one of the worst serial abusers of young women.”