Trump isn’t interested in naming a special counsel for the Jeffrey Epstein case, White House says

President Donald Trump will not appoint a special counsel to review the Jeffrey Epstein case, the White House said Thursday, shooting down a move that several of his allies have advocated.

President Donald Trump will not appoint a special counsel to review the Jeffrey Epstein case, the White House said Thursday, shooting down a move that several of his allies have advocated.

"The president would not recommend a special prosecutor in the Epstein case. That's how he feels," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a briefing when she was asked about calls for him to do so.

Some of Trump's most prominent supporters, including Steve Bannon, far-right activist Laura Loomer and Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., had promoted the idea of Trump’s naming a special counsel.

The Trump administration has come under a firestorm of criticism since the Justice Department and the FBI issued a brief memo this month saying they had thoroughly reviewed the Epstein case, that no one else faced charges in the probe and that they would not release more information in the future.

That has not sat well with some of Trump's most loyal supporters, given that Trump and members of his administration, including FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino, have helped fuel conspiracy theories about Epstein, the politically connected financier.