The rhetoric marks a dramatic escalation for the Republican president, who has broken with some of his most loyal backers in the past, but never with such fervor.

President Donald Trump is accusing some of his onetime supporters of being “weaklings” who are falling prey to Democratic “bullshit” about the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — concluding that he no longer wants their support.

On podcaster Benny Johnson’s show in 2023, Patel suggested that the FBI was withholding the client list because it contained the names of prominent figures. “Put on your big boy pants and let us know who the pedophiles are,” Patel shouted at congressional Republicans.