U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi told President Donald Trump in May that his name was mentioned in investigative documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
The revelation that Mr. Trump’s name was in the Justice Department case threatened to deepen a political crisis that had been engulfing his administration for weeks. Some Trump supporters have for years fanned conspiracy theories about Epstein’s clients and the circumstances of his death in prison in 2019.
The White House responded to the news with mixed reactions. It initially issued a statement calling the information “fake news,” but a White House spokesman later told Reuters the administration did not deny that Trump’s name was in some of the files, adding that Trump had already appeared in materials Ms. Bondi had collected for influential conservatives in February.
Flight logs
Mr Trump, who was friends with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s, appears repeatedly in the flight logs of Epstein’s private jet from the 1990s. Mr Trump and several members of his family also appear in Epstein’s phone book, along with hundreds of others.
Much of the material was made public during the criminal case against Epstein's former associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for sex trafficking and other crimes.
During the trial, a longtime pilot who worked for Epstein testified that Mr. Trump had flown on his private jet several times. Mr. Trump denied being on board.
Reuters was unable to immediately confirm the information published in the Journal.
Mr Trump faced a backlash from his supporters after his administration said it would not release the files, breaking a campaign promise.
Reminder
Earlier this month, the Justice Department said in a memo that there was no basis to continue its investigation into Epstein, sparking anger among some prominent Trump supporters who demanded more information about the wealthy and powerful people who interacted with Epstein.
Mr Trump has not been charged with wrongdoing related to Epstein and has said their friendship ended before Epstein's legal troubles began two decades ago.
Ms. Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a statement that did not directly mention the Journal article.
“Nothing in the case file warranted further investigation or prosecution, and we have filed a motion to unseal the grand jury transcripts,” officials said. “As part of our routine briefing, we briefed the president on the findings of the investigation.”
Many names have appeared
The newspaper reported that Ms Bondi and her deputy told Mr Trump at a White House meeting that his name, along with the names of “many other high-profile individuals”, appeared in the files.
Epstein committed suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges to which he pleaded not guilty. In a separate case, Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to running a prostitution ring in Florida and was sentenced to 13 months in prison, a deal now considered too lenient for prosecutors.
Last week, under political pressure, Mr. Trump ordered the Justice Department to seek the release of classified grand jury transcripts related to Epstein.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg rejected one such request, ruling that it did not fall under any exception to the rules requiring grand jury records to be kept secret.
According to court documents, the motion stems from federal investigations into Epstein in 2005 and 2007; the agency also requested
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