President Trump is directing the Department of Justice to investigate prominent Democratic politicians and donors linked to Jeffrey Epstein amid heightened public scrutiny of his own ties to the deceased pedophile.
Trump instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi Friday to launch an investigation into former President Bill Clinton, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, billionaire Democratic donors, and other individuals and institutions with ties to Epstein.
“I will be asking A.G. Pam Bondi, and the Department of Justice, together with our great patriots at the FBI, to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement and relationship with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and many other people and institutions, to determine what was going on with them, and him,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
“Records show that these men, and many others, spent large portions of their life with Epstein, and on his ‘Island.’ Stay tuned!!!”
Clinton was friends with Epstein and his partner, imprisoned sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. During Clinton’s presidency, Epstein visited the White House on multiple occasions and flight logs show that Clinton flew on Epstein’s jet on 26 occasions during the course of their friendship, which ended around 2003. Clinton’s name has also been floated in subsequent litigation related to Epstein’s crimes. No credible allegations of misconduct have been raised against Clinton from his years in Epstein’s social circle.
Summers also had a strong friendship with Epstein for many years. Emails between them were part of the trove of 20,000 documents released earlier this week by the House Oversight Committee as part of its ongoing investigation into Epstein’s activities. The emails show Summers and Epstein communicated regularly about Summers’s relationship with a woman and Trump’s first term. Trump and Clinton are both referenced repeatedly in the same batch of emails.
Hoffman, who co-founded LinkedIn, helped the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s media lab secure donations from Epstein and visited Epstein’s infamous private island. He has apologized for his affiliation with Epstein and expressed regret for interacting with Epstein after his sex crimes conviction in Florida.
Trump and Epstein were friends for the better part of 15 years, from the 1990s to the mid-2000s. Epstein died in a New York City jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide, although many are skeptical of the official assessment.
“Thank you, Mr. President. SDNY U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton is one of the most capable and trusted prosecutors in the country, and I’ve asked him to take the lead. As with all matters, the Department will pursue this with urgency and integrity to deliver answers to the American people,” Bondi said in a statement.
Trump’s relationship with Epstein has garnered renewed public scrutiny because of the administration’s decision not to release the federal government’s files on Epstein. When the administration released its assessment of the files, it explicitly noted that authorities “did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.”
The administration’s lack of transparency led to the House Oversight Committee’s investigation and a separate congressional push to compel the Justice Department to release all of the Epstein files.
Epstein’s victims have backed the bipartisan discharge petition in the House to have the Justice Department release the files. With the swearing in of Representative Adelita Grijalva (D., Ariz.) this week, the petition garnered the necessary 218 signatures in order to get a vote.
Upon reviewing the files, the Trump administration determined that Epstein committed suicide and did not have a “client list” of associates who participated in his sex trafficking.
Trump has called the Epstein files a “hoax,” equivalent to the false claims of collusion between his 2016 campaign and Russia. He has sued the Wall Street Journal for breaking the news about a cryptic letter he wrote to Epstein for the latter’s 50th birthday in 2003.
The letter was subsequently released as part of the Oversight Committee’s investigation, along with other notable documents from Epstein’s estate. Trump has called the letter fake and denied writing it.
Earlier this week, House Democrats released three emails from the trove of 20,000 documents they claimed warranted additional scrutiny of Trump’s knowledge of Epstein’s activities. One of the emails featured Epstein claiming Trump “knew about the girls” and another indicated Trump spent hours at Epstein’s house with the name of a victim redacted.
The victim turned out to be Virginia Giuffre, a prominent Epstein accuser who previously said Trump never did anything wrong. Giuffre died of suicide this year after spending years raising awareness about Epstein’s sexual abuse. Republicans pointed to Giuffre’s past comments to accuse Democrats of cherry-picking documents in order to implicate Trump.
Trump has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with his friendship with Epstein.