Christie: Trump 'fueled' Epstein conspiracy theories, also bears responsibility for fallout

Former New Jersey GOP Gov. Chris Christie says President Trump has "benefited" from and "encouraged" conspiracy theories about Jeffrey Epstein and therefore bears responsibility for the fallout about the now-closed Justice Department probe into the deceased financier and convicted sex-offender.

Trump vowed during his winning 2024 to look into Epstein's death while in jail, now ruled a suicide, and whether he indeed has an incriminating "client list," which the Trump administration says, in fact, does not exist. 

Trump MAGA base feels misled and has the largely heaped the criticsm on Attorney General Pam Bondi.

"Well, look, what Donald Trump is learning is when you start the fire, sometimes you can't put it out," Christie, a 2016 GOP presidential candidate and on-again-off-again Trump supporter, told ABC News on Sunday.

"Now, he started this Epstein fire during the campaign and prior to that by alleging that this was all some, you know, Democratic plot, that he was perhaps murdered by former Democratic officeholders, that there were a lot of Democrats who had been down to Jeffrey Epstein's island and all the rest.

"He used that to fire his own base, and he was going to get to the bottom of it, and he was going to release it because he's in -- absolutely in favor of transparency," Christie continued. "Well, now you get into the job and you realize -- you know, 'maybe I don't want to do that.'"

Christie said that Bondi is doing what Trump wants her to.

"And let's be clear about this: Pam Bondi – there's no chance, in my opinion, that Pam Bondi made this decision on her own. No chance. She was instructed by the White House that we're not releasing this stuff. And that's why he's defending her," Christie said.

Christie also pushed back on the suggestion that it was mostly the people around Trump who were encouraging the conspiracy theories about Epstein.

"We cannot let the president off that easily. He benefited directly from it. He fueled it. He encouraged it. And he certainly didn't stop it," Christie said.

"So, you know, part of what bothers me in this context is that Donald Trump gets a pass. 'Oh, it wasn't him. It was somebody else.' He took these people who were doing exactly what you just said and put them in charge of the people on the front line of protecting the American people from crime and terrorism and counterintelligence operations. He encouraged this, and by putting them in those positions, he supported the work they were doing."

A joint Justice Department-FBI memo obtained by the news outlet Axios and published last week said that Epstein had no client list, died by suicide, and did not blackmail prominent individuals.

While on the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly promised to release the files regarding Epstein on day one of his administration. Early in Trump's administration, Bondi promised their release, but ultimately provided influencers with already public information, instead.

In May, FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino attempted to end ongoing conspiracy theories that Epstein was murdered in a Manhattan jail in 2019 while awaiting trial.

Despite New York City’s chief medical examiner ruling Epstein's death a suicide, conspiracy theories have been floated that he was killed by someone, given the circumstances surrounding his death and his connections to famous people like former President Bill Clinton, former MIT Professor Noam Chomsky, and the United Kingdom's Prince Andrew.