Conservatives, led by key figures in the MAGA movement, have pressed unsubstantiated claims that Epstein was murdered and that “deep state” actors in the government are hiding lists of his clients, videos of crimes being committed and other evidence. Trump himself suggested there was a cover-up.

In the days since the Trump administration released a memo on Jeffrey Epstein directly at odds with conspiracy theories pushed by the president and some of his top lieutenants, Donald Trump’s movement and most ardent supporters are in revolt.

While the Democratic Party by and large has, in recent years, kept its distance from the conspiracy theories related