I understand what he’s doing,” Jon Stewart said of Trump’s decision to start ranting and raving about what he has deemed the Jeffrey Epstein “hoax.” Stewart shared his theory on a new episode of his Weekly Show podcast that Trump’s trying to cloud to legitimacy of the Epstein files because he knows he would likely be implicated by their release.

The political satirist took aim at Trump’s failure to deliver the bombshell Epstein client list his allies had long teased, a failure that’s triggered backlash even among die-hard supporters. Earlier this year Attorney General Pam Bondi declared she had received the Epstein files directly from the FBI.