Trump Berated Charlie Kirk for Emceeing ‘Epstein Grievance Fest’ — Blockbuster Maggie Haberman Book Excerpt Reveals

AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File

President Donald Trump personally scolded late conservative activist Charlie Kirk in July after a Turning Point USA event devolved into what aides viewed as a public “grievance fest” over the administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, according to a new book by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan.

The account, published in an excerpt from Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump on Wednesday, offers a new glimpse into the panic that gripped the White House as backlash over the Epstein case spread through Trump’s own political coalition in the summer of 2025.

According to Haberman and Swan, Trump told aides he was deeply unhappy with Kirk, Tucker Carlson, and Megyn Kelly, all of whom had publicly pressed the administration to release more information related to Epstein.

The frustration was particularly directed at Kirk on July 12 after a Turning Point USA gathering the previous day.

After the event, during which speaker after speaker criticized then-Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of the issue, Trump responded by calling Kirk directly and scolding him.

The passage reads:

On July 12, the president took to Truth Social to defend Bondi against criticism and to urge his “boys” and “gals” to stop wasting “Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about.” Trump told aides he was very unhappy with some of his most influential supporters, including Charlie Kirk, Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, all of whom were publicly urging the administration to come clean. Kirk had held a Turning Point USA event the previous day that turned into an Epstein grievance fest, with one speaker after another bashing Bondi over her handling of the situation. Trump had called Kirk and scolded him.

Nobody in Trump’s orbit had a better feel for the younger part of the MAGA base than Kirk, who saw that the Epstein cover-up, as it was now viewed, was capturing attention to an alarming extent. Donald Trump Jr. and JD Vance — both of whom spent considerable time on X and were tapped into the same younger and hyper-online portion of the base — were also worried. They urged the White House to change course and force the Justice Department to release more of the files.

The book reports that Kirk believed anger over what many supporters viewed as an Epstein cover-up was spreading rapidly among the MAGA base. Few figures in Trump’s orbit were considered more attuned to younger conservative voters than Kirk, whose organization has become a key force in mobilizing young Republicans.

The revelations are drawn from Regime Change, a forthcoming book based on more than 1,000 interviews conducted over three years with Trump aides, advisers, allies, and administration officials.

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