Washington, DC [US], November 15 (HBTV): US President Donald Trump said on Friday (local time) that he will ask Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's ties to several high-profile figures. The development comes just days after Democrats released emails from the late Epstein that mention Trump.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said Democrats were using the ‘Epstein hoax’ to divert attention from the ongoing shutdown.
Bondi responded on X, writing ‘Thank you, Mr. President’ and sharing a screenshot of Trump’s request. She later confirmed that she would initiate the investigation on Trump’s orders, assigning Jay Clayton, the top prosecutor in New York’s southern district, to lead the federal probe, according to CNN.
For years, Trump has attempted to downplay his association with Epstein, the financier and convicted sex offender who once moved within the same social circles as Trump in Palm Beach and Manhattan. In 2002, Trump referred to Epstein as a ‘terrific guy’, but later claimed he was ‘not a fan’, asserting that they had a falling out long before Epstein faced his most serious legal issues.
A new batch of emails from Epstein’s estate, released this week by the House Oversight Committee, adds further detail to a relationship that has long faced scrutiny.
Earlier this year, after Bondi directed the FBI to review Epstein files for possible release, Justice and FBI officials conducted another assessment and concluded that no additional prosecutions could be brought based on the available evidence, CNN reported.
The newly released messages do not reveal new information about Trump’s ties to Epstein but highlight several references from Epstein’s private communications. Among them is Epstein’s claim that Trump ‘spent hours’ with a trafficking and rape victim, whom House Republicans identified on Wednesday as the late Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most well-known victims. Giuffre died by suicide in April and never implicated Trump in any wrongdoing in her book or public statements. Epstein made the assertion in a 2011 email to Ghislaine Maxwell, later convicted of sex trafficking following Epstein’s death in 2019.
Other emails include Epstein’s claim that Trump ‘knew about the girls’, appearing to reference Trump’s past assertion that he banned Epstein from the Mar-a-Lago club for attempting to recruit young women employed there. Epstein also offered blunt personal assessments of Trump during his presidency.
‘I told everyone from day one. evil beyond belief, mad,’ Epstein wrote in March 2018. ‘he feels alone. and is nuts!!!’
(ANI)