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.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt faced tough questions Thursday regarding President Donald Trump comments about the Jeffrey Epstein files, which he has repeatedly branded a "hoax." When asked which part of the Department of Justice investigation into convicted pedophile Epstein was a "hoax,