“The calls for a special counsel are odd more generally because the special counsel regulations require an investigation into a criminal matter,” he said. “Epstein is dead and Ghislaine Maxwell has been convicted. There’s no indication that there is any active DOJ criminal investigation here.”

The White House is being backed into a corner as talk around the Jeffrey Epstein files continue to stir up mixed feelings from President Trump’s MAGA base. NBC News’ Gabe Gutierrez and Julie Tsirkin report the latest.