NEW YORK (AP) – At President Donald Trump’s request, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Friday that she has ordered a top federal prosecutor to investigate. sex offender jeffrey epstein ties to Trump’s political opponents, including former President Bill Clinton;
Mr. Bondi posted on X that he was appointing Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to lead the investigation, capping an eventful week in which Congressional Republicans released nearly 23,000 pages of documents from Mr. Epstein’s estate and House Democrats seized emails that referred to Mr. Trump.
Trump, a longtime friend of Epstein, did not explain what crimes he wanted the Justice Department to investigate. None of the men he mentioned in social media posts calling for an investigation have been accused of sexual misconduct by Epstein’s victims.
Hours before Bondi’s announcement, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform asking her, the Justice Department and the FBI to investigate Epstein’s “associations and relationships” with Clinton, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and LinkedIn founder and Democratic donor Reid Hoffman.
President Trump called the matter “an Epstein hoax involving Democrats, not Republicans,” and said the investigation should include JPMorgan Chase and “many other people and institutions” that provided banking services to Epstein.
“This is another Russia, Russia, Russia fraud. All arrows point toward the Democratic Party,” the Republican president wrote, referring to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election victory for Bill Clinton’s wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Celebrities appear in Epstein’s emails
Trump, Bill Clinton, Summers and Hoffman are mentioned in documents released this week. The documents include emails, news articles, book excerpts, legal documents and other materials Mr. Epstein exchanged with friends and business associates.
The documents said Epstein continued to correspond with Summers and Hoffman by email, writing to others that Trump and Clinton were at his company many times over the years, but there was nothing in the messages to suggest wrongdoing on the men’s part.
Clinton acknowledged traveling on Epstein’s private jet but said through a spokeswoman that she had no knowledge of the late financier’s crimes. Neither Clinton nor Trump have been accused of wrongdoing by the women who say they were abused by Epstein.
Summers, a cabinet member in the Clinton administration and former president of Harvard University, previously said in a statement that he had “deep regrets in my life” and that his “association with Jeffrey Epstein was a huge error in judgment.”
Messages seeking comment were left through Mr. Hoffman’s investment firm, Greylock, and with a spokesperson for JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Since Epstein’s arrest on sex trafficking charges in 2019, Hoffman said he has had only a few interactions with Epstein, all related to fundraising for the MIT Media Lab. Nevertheless, he apologized, saying, “By agreeing to participate in a fundraiser where Epstein was present, I helped restore his reputation and perpetuate injustice.”
None of Epstein’s victims have accused Hoffman of wrongdoing.
In his post, Bondi praised Clayton as “one of the most talented and reliable prosecutors in this country” and said the Justice Department “will pursue this case with urgency and integrity to provide answers for the American people.”
Clayton, who served as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission during President Trump’s first term, was sworn in as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York in April. The district is the same firm that prosecuted Epstein and secured a sex trafficking conviction in 2021 against Epstein’s longtime confidant, Ghislaine Maxwell.
President Trump changes policy on Epstein scandal
Trump has raised questions about Epstein’s death in prison a month after his arrest, and hinted during last year’s campaign that he would seek to release the government’s case file.
But Trump has reversed course in recent months, blaming Democrats and treating the issue as a “hoax” amid questions about his friendship with Epstein and what knowledge he had of his years of exploiting underage girls.
On Wednesday, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released three of Epstein’s email conversations that referenced President Trump. They include a 2019 email in which Mr. Epstein said the president “knew the girls” and a 2011 email in which Mr. Trump said he “spent hours” with a sex trafficking victim at his home.
The emails do not say what Mr. Trump knew and do not detail what Mr. Trump did at Mr. Epstein’s home. White House press secretary Caroline Levitt accused Democrats of “selectively leaking emails” to “create a false narrative to smear President Trump.”
Shortly after, Republicans on the committee announced that they had an additional 20,000 pages of documents from Epstein’s estate. It included emails written by Mr. Epstein, including comments (often unfavorable) about Mr. Trump’s rise in politics and communications with journalists.
Other emails show that Epstein maintained friendly relationships with academics and business leaders, including Mr. Summers and Mr. Hoffman, even after he pleaded guilty in 2008 and served 13 months in prison for soliciting prostitution of a person under 18.
According to the emails, Mr. Epstein and Mr. Summers discussed politics, arranged phone calls with each other, and discussed more intimate matters, including the women Mr. Summers had socialized with. Mr. Epstein advised: “You really care about this person. Maybe you should show it.”
Mr. Epstein exchanged only a few emails with Mr. Hoffman, who later financed a sexual abuse and defamation lawsuit against Mr. Trump by author E. Jean Carroll. In 2015, Epstein wrote to the billionaire, saying, “Your diet program seems to be working.”
Hoffman replied, “Progress is slow. I’ll see you in August. I hope you’re doing well.” __
Bidain reported from Denver.
