On CNN, Donie O'Sullivan discusses the Epstein case and Trump's longtime promotion of QAnon conspiracy theories: “It really is shocking”
O'Sullivan: “I remember a couple of weeks before the 2020 election ... he refused to disavow QAnon then. And since then Media Matters, the liberal watchdog group, said that he has posted more than a 1,000 times on Truth Social, amplifying QAnon accounts.”
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From the July 16, 2025, edition of CNN's The Source with Kaitlan Collins
KAITLAN COLLINS (ANCHOR): Donie, I kind of just would like for you to walk us through this. Because, I think, one question that some people have is given Trump himself has peddled conspiracy theories before, what you make of the surprise he has at how attached to this, the people who support him the most are and are not willing to let it go, just because he says, stop talking about this.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN (SENIOR CORRESPONDENT): Yes, Kaitlan, it's, I mean, it's absolutely shocking for them. It really is shocking.
And I was trying to think of this today, in terms of, in MAGA media, there are many conspiracy theories, and objects of fascination come and go. But every day, pretty much, for years, you'll always hear people on those channels, on those platforms, talk about two things. One is the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen. They are still talking and obsessing about that.
And secondly, is the Epstein files and everything to do with that.
So, Trump coming out and saying, just forget about this, I think, is such, so much of a shock, that it would be equivalent of him coming out and admitting that the 2020 election wasn't stolen, and that conspiracy theory was a hoax.
Look, Trump is obviously a master manipulator of media, of social media. And either he is sort of playing dumb here, and hoping that this Epstein stuff goes away, or maybe he just genuinely doesn't fully grasp how much he has stoked the conspiracy theory space online, for years.
I mean, I remember a couple of weeks before the 2020 election, he did an NBC News Town Hall. He refused to disavow QAnon then. And since then Media Matters, the liberal watchdog group, said that he has posted more than a thousand times on Truth Social, amplifying QAnon accounts.
And so, every time people see those sort of accounts, they view that, rightly or wrongly, but they view that as him endorsing this conspiracy theory, or Epstein files, all that sort of stuff. So, that is why this is such a big deal for them.