'Unforced error': Trump
admin reportedly hit by new internal 'jolt' over Epstein scandal
October 5, 2025 2:16PM ET
In an article for Salon published
Sunday, the outlet's senior writer, Sophia Tesfaye, argued that
a deep and destabilizing fissure has opened within the Trump administration over how to control
the narrative around convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Tesfaye noted
that while the White House has tried to project unified
silence or denial about the Epstein files, recent statements from within
Trump’s orbit expose that narrative as fractured.
She sees the
administration’s strategy of evasion collapsing under pressure, as single
officials now speak openly in ways that conflict with the official message.
One flashpoint
Tesfaye highlighted is an interview by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who described Epstein as the “greatest blackmailer ever."
In that same interview, Lutnick claimed of Epstein's approach toward his
associates: “Get a massage, get a massage,” and added, “what happened in that
massage room, I assume, was on video.”
Those remarks,
from a Cabinet official closely tied to President Donald Trump,
represent a direct break from earlier public denials that any compromising
material or “client list” existed.
"Lutnick
made 'a complete unforced error' with his revelation, Wired Magazine’s Jake
LaHut told NBC News. As a sitting Cabinet official and former neighbor of
Epstein, the secretary’s story places him at odds with the public posture of
DOJ and FBI officials. It seemingly backs up Attorney General Pam Bondi’s
initial claim of an 'Epstein client list,' while simultaneously undermining FBI
Director Kash Patel’s conflicting testimony that no credible evidence of
blackmail or a client list exists," the article noted.
"Lutnick’s
interview presents a significant narrative jolt because it comes from inside
the Trump orbit and directly conflicts with the administration’s public claims
about the Epstein files," Tesfaye wrote.
Tesfaye traced
how the administration has tried multiple tactics to deflect scrutiny. She
noted that early on, some Trump-allied voices floated the idea that Epstein’s
files were part of a deep-state scheme; then the White House briefly leaned
into the notion that a “wonderful secret” linked to Trump was being suppressed.
But now, she
argued, that façade is failing as internal statements — like Lutnick’s — break
through.
She further
underscored that Trump’s legal and communications teams are now forced to react
to narratives that no longer fit the controlled contours they sought. Tesfaye
asserted that the Epstein matter has shifted from a background headache to a
disruptive force exposing fault lines inside the Trump coalition.
"Lutnick’s
comments — and [host Miranda] Devine’s interest — make it clear the scandal of
Trump’s Epstein connections won’t be going away any time soon," she wrote.
