Joe Rogan Turns on Trump Administration Over Epstein Crisis: ‘Do They Think We’re Babies?’

Podcaster Joe Rogan – once a prominent Trump ally who even endorsed the president during the 2024 campaign – is publicly blasting the Trump administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. In the July 25 episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan railed against apparent contradictions in the official story, angrily asking, “Do they think we’re babies?” The normally pro-Trump commentator suggested that federal officials had flip-flopped on key evidence and were offering pat explanations that insulted listeners’ intelligence.

Rogan flagged several inconsistencies in the Justice Department’s account. For example, he noted that investigators initially appeared to promise hours of new surveillance video only to later claim none existed. “They’ve got videotape and all of a sudden they don’t,” Rogan complained. He also warned that the public was being misled: “They can lie about all kinds of things. Where’s the Epstein files? … ‘Oh, can’t find them, don’t exist.’ Like, they can get away with shit, man,” he fumed in an on-air remark. Rogan’s language reflected his disbelief that authorities could publicly reverse themselves without a better explanation.

Much of Rogan’s ire was directed at FBI officials. He recalled that FBI Director Kash Patel, whom Rogan interviewed in June, had downplayed the investigation’s findings. At that time Patel had insisted he was “working his a– off” to release all available information. Yet when Patel later announced he would publish a jail-camera video of Epstein’s cell, Rogan noted with scorn that the footage came with “a f---ing minute missing from it,” sarcastically asking, “Do you think we’re babies? … what is this?” Rogan was especially incredulous that Patel could go from “there’s nothing” notable in the files to suddenly trying to placate critics with a heavily edited film. He also pointed out that former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi – now a Trump Justice Department official – had told reporters only days earlier that agents were reviewing “tens of thousands of videos” of Epstein with children. “Why’d they say there were thousands of hours of tapes of people doing horrible s***? … Didn’t [Bondi] say that?” Rogan demanded, highlighting the mix of promises and retractions that have fueled public skepticism.

The Epstein files controversy has ignited a broader political firestorm. In early July the FBI and Justice Department stunned Trump’s conservative base by announcing the case would be closed without releasing any secret “client list” of associates or evidence that Epstein was murdered. That development was especially sensitive given President Trump’s own history with Epstein: the two men were often seen together in the 1990s, and Epstein recorded that Trump was once his “closest friend”. Trump campaigned on pledges to release all government records on Epstein (even teasing a public “Epstein Files: Phase 1” dump in February), but the material eventually released was described by analysts as yielding “little to no new information”. Rogan quipped that the administration was using other crises as a distraction, commenting sarcastically on his podcast, “Just bomb Iran and everybody forgets about it”.

The fallout is reaching into Trump’s own political coalition. Even some Republican leaders are split. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) publicly declared he supported full transparency, saying “we should put everything out there and let the people decide”. Yet Johnson later joined other Republicans in blocking a Democratic motion to force a vote on releasing the files. Meanwhile, libertarian-leaning Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) has been blunt, tweeting that “we all deserve to know what’s in the Epstein files… Americans were promised justice and transparency”. And Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), a staunch Trump backer, warned supporters that they “are absolutely not going to accept just a memo… that says there is no client list”. House Democrats have also seized on the controversy: Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) asked pointedly, “What are they hiding from the American people? Release the files…,” and allies on both sides of the aisle (including Reps. Massie and Ro Khanna, D-Calif.) are preparing to force a full congressional vote on the issue.

Outside Capitol Hill, long-time Trump supporters are venting their frustration. Axios reported on July 17 that a wave of ‘MAGA backlash’ has swept through conservative podcasters and comedians who helped boost Trump’s 2024 campaign. Rogan, along with figures like Andrew Schulz and Shane Gillis, was singled out as having helped win young male voters for Trump – and now openly criticizing him – a “rare rupture” in Trump’s coalition that could even threaten his appeal to Gen Z and millennials. Social media and talk radio have been ablaze with discontent: many conservatives are echoing Rogan’s incredulity at the administration’s shifting explanations and demanding that the promised Epstein evidence finally be made public.

Rogan’s unusually harsh criticism of a president he once embraced underscores just how fraught the Epstein issue has become for the GOP. Whether in podcasts, Congress or on the streets, pressure is mounting on the administration to justify its claims or release the withheld records. Rogan’s outburst – questioning the official line on national airwaves – adds momentum to the calls from politicians and voters alike: fully explain the Epstein files or let the people see them for themselves. In this high-stakes controversy, few insiders appear willing to accept easy answers, and the Trump administration faces growing scrutiny from former allies and opponents alike.