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

According to a Quinnipiac University poll, the majority of U.S. voters disapprove of Trump's handling of files related to Epstein, a wealthy financier who died by suicide in jail in August 2019, weeks after his arrest on sex trafficking charges.

President Donald Trump dodged more questions on the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein while speaking to reporters Tuesday, claiming that parts of the investigative files had been “made up” by his political opponents as questions swirl over his own past relationship with the late sex offender.