President Donald Trump’s Jeffrey Epstein problem is showing little sign of fading.
A brutal new poll suggests widespread doubt, even among Republicans, that the Trump administration has delivered justice or brought accountability to those connected to Epstein.
Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to prostitution-related charges, including soliciting a minor, and served time in prison as part of a controversial plea deal. He died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
Since then, there have been widespread calls, especially among MAGA supporters, to release any files related to the DOJ’s investigation into Epstein.
During his campaign, Trump repeatedly suggested that, if elected, he would move to declassify or disclose Epstein-related materials as part of a broader pledge for government transparency and accountability.
The promise became a recurring talking point among supporters who expected a significant release of investigative documents, including potential names and connections linked to Epstein’s network.
However, after Trump began his second term in 2025, the scope of what was released proved more limited than campaign rhetoric had suggested.
Early disclosures included some Epstein-related documents, but much of the material was already publicly known or heavily redacted.
Meanwhile, former Attorney General Pam Bondi suggested that the administration would release Epstein’s client list, only for the Justice Department and FBI to jointly issue a memo concluding there was no evidence of an Epstein “client list” and reaffirming the official finding that Epstein’s 2019 death was a suicide.
But calls for the files to be fully released and accusations of a cover-up only grew.
As of early 2026, the Justice Department has released roughly 3.5 million pages of Epstein-related records, along with about 2,000 videos and 180,000 images, following staged disclosures in late 2025 and January 2026 under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
However, this represents only part of the overall archive.
Meanwhile, none of the individuals named in documents released earlier this year—including references and photographs involving several high-profile figures in business and public life such as Donald Trump and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates—have been charged.
Trump has long maintained that he had no knowledge of or involvement in Epstein’s criminal conduct, while Gates has previously described his past association with Epstein as a “mistake,” saying it was limited to discussions related to philanthropy.
But the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted between June 3-8 among 4,531 adults, found that just 10 percent of Americans, and only 21 percent of Republicans, think the Trump administration has helped in efforts to hold people connected to Epstein accountable.
Additionally, just one in five Americans said they believe Epstein’s alleged associates have been held accountable, according to the poll.
A far larger share—84 percent of respondents, including similar proportions of Republicans, Democrats and independents—said the Epstein files reinforce a broader belief that powerful people in the United States are rarely brought to justice.
Meanwhile, 75 percent of those surveyed said they think the federal government is likely still withholding information about Epstein’s alleged network of clients.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
Congressional investigators are continuing to review the long-running Epstein case, with Bill Gates among those to be interviewed in a closed-door session as part of broader efforts to map Epstein’s network and associates.
At the same time, scrutiny of Trump’s past connection to Epstein remains ongoing. Epstein’s longtime assistant, Lesley Groff, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Tuesday that she arranged several phone calls between Epstein and Trump, though she said the contacts were infrequent.Separately, a New York Times report published Wednesday detailed growing internal tensions within Trump’s second administration over the handling of the Epstein files, including a reported confrontation in which former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino clashed sharply with Attorney General Pam Bondi during a heated internal meeting.
“You f---ed this thing up from the start,” Bongino yelled. “The way you’ve been talking about this—that dumb f---ing charade with the Epstein files, the ‘They’re on my desk’ nonsense, all the promises to the folks out there,” he reportedly said.
