Critics say Trump tries to distract from Epstein by talking about everything but that

Critics of President Donald Trump are accusing him of trying to distract from the Jeffrey Epstein files as the administration faces pushback for more transparency regarding the case.

Among a recent flurry of wide-ranging posts on his social media platform, Trump on Sunday demanded that the Washington Commanders reverse the team's name change, claiming that there is "a big clamoring for this."

He then followed up several hours later, saying, "My statement on the Washington Redskins has totally blown up, but only in a very positive way," and threatened to not facilitate a deal for the football team's new stadium in Washington, D.C., if it does not change its name.

In response to the post, Joe Walsh, a former Republican congressman who ran against Trump for president in 2020, said on social media, "Trump is scared to death of the Epstein files."

The Department of Justice and FBI's announcement in a July 6 memo that they would not release any additional files on Epstein, after the Trump administration earlier promised to do so, has angered many of the president's supporters. The memo also said they determined that there is no Epstein "client list," which has been the subject of conspiracy theories boosted by the FBI's Kash Patel and Dan Bongino prior to joining the Trump administration, further angering some of Trump's most vocal supporters.

After the Trump administration announced the release Monday of 230,000 files related to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Rev. Al Sharpton claimed the move was a "desperate attempt to distract people from the firestorm engulfing Trump over the Epstein files and the public unraveling of his credibility among the MAGA base."

California Sen. Adam Schiff has also accused the president of trying to distract from the Epstein firestorm. In a post on Sunday, Trump continued his attacks on Schiff, claiming the Democrat should go to prison for allegedly falsifying loan documents regarding his Maryland residence. Schiff previously said that Trump's accusation is a "convenient distraction" from the Epstein controversy.

"What really is going on here is this is Donald Trump trying to bring about political retribution, retaliation, trying to distract from his Epstein files problem," Schiff said in a video message last week.

Among other recent posts, Trump on Monday called for an immediate end to cashless bail and railed against the federal judge overseeing Harvard University's challenge to the Trump administration's withholding billions of federal funds from the school, calling her a "TOTAL DISASTER."

He also weighed in on the case involving Bryan Kohberger, who is set to be sentenced this week after pleading guilty to murdering four University of Idaho students, in a social media post Monday that appears to be the first time that the president had spoken out publicly about the 2022 killings.

Trump also turned his attention to the Wall Street Journal, pushing back against what he called a "typically untruthful story" published Sunday that reported that in the past few days, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent privately laid out his case to Trump for why he shouldn't try to push out Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Trump's criticism of the Wall Street Journal comes days after the president filed a $10 billion libel lawsuit against the paper, Rupert Murdoch and others over the Thursday report about Trump's alleged birthday message sent to Epstein in 2003, which he says does not exist.

The president also reposted a video on his social media platform on Sunday that included fake footage of former President Barack Obama being arrested in the Oval Office and behind bars. Trump has in recent days baselessly accused Obama and other Democrats of making up and doctoring Epstein files.

Democratic strategist Sawyer Hackett argued that with posts like the Washington Commanders name change and Obama arrest video, Trump is attempting to "distract from the Epstein scandal."

ESPN's Stephen A. Smith also called Trump's Commanders remarks "petty" and "evasive," claiming in a broadcast of ESPN’s "First Take" on Monday that Trump was attempting to distract his base from "other issues, including the Epstein files."

Trump did address the Epstein uproar on Saturday, reiterating on his social media platform that he has ordered the Justice Department to request the release of more details on the probe into the wealthy financier and convicted sex offender, who died by suicide in jail in 2019.

The move follows calls from both Republicans and Democrats for transparency in the wake of the DOJ and FBI's July 6 memo. Though in his post on Saturday, Trump claimed that releasing grand jury testimony in the Epstein case may do little to quell the outspoken criticism of his administration's handling of the case, writing, "Even if the Court gave its full and unwavering approval, nothing will be good enough for the troublemakers and radical left lunatics making the request. It will always be more, more, more."

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt maintained on Monday that Trump is being transparent with his base about the Epstein case.

"He knows what his supporters want. It's transparency, and he has given them that on all accounts when it comes to everything this administration has done," Leavitt told reporters.

"No question is off limits here at this White House, not just for the president, but myself as well," she added.

Beyond the handling of the Epstein case, Trump appears to have lost ground on issues that once were among his strongest attributes, including immigration.

A recent Gallup poll shows Trump's approval rating on immigration is underwater among American adults, and particularly among Hispanic Americans. Among American adults, 62% disapprove of Trump's handling of immigration, according to the poll. Only 21% of Hispanic Americans approve of how Trump is handling immigration issues, according to Gallup.

In recent polling from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research (AP-NORC), only 43% of U.S. adults said they approved of his handling of immigration -- down from the 49% in March, the poll found.

In addition to immigration, Trump earned less than 50% approval on every issue included in the poll, including the economy, government spending, taxes, trade, health care and natural disaster relief. Overall, 58% of U.S. adults disapprove of his job as president, the poll found.