Donald Trump on Friday directed the Justice Department to investigate Jeffrey Epstein's involvement with financial institutions and prominent political figures — a move quickly agreed to by Attorney General Pam Bondi.
While the late financier's emails, which the House Oversight Committee released this week, contained correspondence mentioning people on both sides of the aisle — including the president himself — Trump named only Democrats as potential targets.
"Now that the Democrats are using the Epstein Hoax, involving Democrats, not Republicans, to try and deflect from their disastrous SHUTDOWN, and all of their other failures, 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 said in a lengthy post on his social media platform Truth Social.
"This is another Russia, Russia, Russia Scam, with all arrows pointing to the Democrats," Trump added.
Bondi responded to the post a few hours later on X, saying she was assigning the task to Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
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 wrote.
A spokesperson for Clinton said the released emails "prove Bill Clinton did nothing and knew nothing."
"The rest is noise meant to distract from election losses, backfiring shutdowns, and who knows what else," the spokesperson said in a statement Friday evening.
NBC News has reached out to representatives for Hoffman, Summers and JPMorgan Chase for comment. None of the people Trump named in his post were accused of wrongdoing in the sex trafficking case against Epstein, who was charged with sexually abusing numerous teenage girls at his homes in New York City and Palm Beach, Florida.
Clinton, his former Treasury Secretary Summers and LinkedIn co-founder and Democratic donor Hoffman have all said they regret ever associating with Epstein.
Trump's post comes after thousands of emails from the Epstein estate were released by the House Oversight Committee this week, including many that referenced Trump's connections to the convicted sex offender, who died in jail while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in 2019.
In one of the emails, Epstein said Trump “knew about the girls,” but didn’t directly accuse him of any wrongdoing. In another, Epstein referred to Trump, who was in his first term as president at the time, writing, "I am the one able to take him down,” but the exchange did not provide context and occurred about six months before Epstein's arrest on federal sex trafficking charges.
In yet another email, Epstein said Trump had been to his home "many times" but "never got a massage."
Other Republicans come up in the emails. Steve Bannon, the former Trump adviser and influential MAGA voice, is both mentioned and corresponded with Epstein. Tom Barrack, who is currently the ambassador to Turkey, is also in there. Peter Thiel, the tech billionaire who has been a major Republican donor, also emailed with Epstein.
As is the case with the Democrats Trump mentioned, there's nothing in the emails linking the Republicans to Epstein's crimes.
Clinton flew on Epstein's jet for Clinton Foundation trips before Epstein was first hit with criminal charges in 2006.
Trump has accused Clinton of having made dozens of trips to Epstein's private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein preyed on some of his victims.
Clinton has denied ever going to the island, something Epstein agreed with in one of the email exchanges made public this week.
“Clinton was NEVER EVER there, never,” Epstein wrote in one email.
The newly released documents showed that Summers was in frequent email contact with Epstein until the year he died, despite the financier having served time for soliciting a minor in 2008 and being named in dozens of lawsuits accusing him of sexually abusing underage girls.
In one March 2019 exchange, Summers and Epstein had a conversation about a woman Summers was interested in.
Summers has been previously quoted as saying that he felt regret for “my past associations with Mr. Epstein.”
Hoffman invited Epstein and former MIT Media Lab Director Joi Ito to a 2015 dinner in Palo Alto with the likes of Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Peter Thiel, according to a report in Axios. Hoffman told the website he believed Epstein had been vetted by MIT. Both were donors to the school.
“The abuse described by Jeffery Epstein’s survivors is abhorrent, horrific, and disgusting," Hoffman told the website in a 2019 email.
"My last interaction with Epstein was in 2015. Still, by agreeing to participate in any fundraising activity where Epstein was present, I helped to repair his reputation and perpetuate injustice. For this, I am deeply regretful," the email said.
JPMorgan Chase was Epstein's banker for 15 years, and has settled lawsuits from his victims and the U.S. Virgin Islands alleging the bank facilitated his sex trafficking enterprise. The victims' suit was settled for $290 million, and the U.S.V.I. suit was settled for $75 million. The settlements did not involve admissions of liability.
Asked to comment on Trump's post, spokeswoman Patricia Wexler said, "We regret any association we had with the man, but did not help him commit his heinous acts" and had "ended our relationship with him years before his arrest on sex-trafficking charges."
