On Saturday afternoon, Austin Tucker Martin, a 21-year-old golf course groundskeeper and illustrator, left his home in North Carolina and began a 10-hour drive south to president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. Early Sunday morning, Martin reportedly walked into Mar-a-Lago with a shotgun and a can of fuel; he was then shot and killed by Secret Service agents and officers from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s office.
Martin was, according to friends, a vocal Trump supporter. His cousin told the Associated Press, “We are big Trump supporters, all of us”—though they added that Martin rarely discussed politics.
Law enforcement have not speculated on Martin’s motive, but a few days before the incident, Martin reportedly texted a coworker: “I don’t know if you read up on the Epstein Files, but evil is real and unmistakable,” according to texts obtained by TMZ. “The best people like you and I can do is use what little influence we have. Tell other people about what you hear about the Epstein files and what the government is doing about it. Raise awareness.”
His former coworkers told TMZ that Martin had become fixated on the Epstein case after the Department of Justice released more than 3 million documents and photos related to Jeffrey Epstein last month. They said Martin believed there was a cover-up taking place and that powerful people were “getting away with it.”
While Martin’s actions were uniquely extreme, there is a widespread and simmering anger among Trump’s MAGA base about the government’s tepid response to the Epstein document drops. Right-wing influencers, media personalities, and even politicians are focusing that anger not at Trump but at other government leaders like attorney general Pam Bondi, one-time adviser Steve Bannon, and FBI director Kash Patel.
On X and pro-Trump message boards in recent days, Trump supporters have slammed Patel for failing to deliver on his promise to hold those named in the Epstein files accountable.
“There’s arguably never been a point in history where an FBI director had more on his plate than right now, yet the American people see no results, just some guy partying in a place he shouldn’t be,” one person wrote in response to Patel’s post on X about partying with the US men’s Olympic ice hockey team.
“I agree with [the] criticism,” wrote a member of the rabidly pro-Trump message board known as The Donald, in response to a post about people criticizing Patel. “In the game of justice he’s been unable to score a single point, 0 arrests for Epstein … He’s scum.”
In another thread that was discussing a report about Epstein, a member of The Donald wrote: “Meanwhile, Kash is in Italy getting drunk.”
While much of the right-wing media ecosystem that relies on the benevolence of Trump to survive has almost entirely shied away from critical coverage of the Epstein files, prominent far-right figures have continued to criticize the administration, though stopping short of directly attacking Trump.
“The Trump administration engaged in a failed coverup of the Epstein files,” white nationalist livestreamer Nick Fuentes said recently on his show, adding: “Pam Bondi needs to be impeached.”
The arrests of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the man formerly known as Prince Andrew, and Peter Mandelson, the former UK ambassador to the US, have only increased pressure on Patel and Bondi. Both are being investigated in the UK over suspicion of “misconduct in public office” in relation to their Epstein ties.
“The UK has officially done more to prosecute Epstein predators than our own government. Shameful,” Nancy Mace, the South Carolina Republican congresswoman, wrote on X.
