The US president has also instructed to probe the late sex offender’s connections to bank JPMorgan Chase and ex-Treasury chief Larry Summers
US President Donald Trump has ordered an investigation into sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to prominent Democrats, including Bill Clinton.
The move was prompted by the release of 20,000 pages of documents from Epstein’s estate by the US House Oversight Committee this week, which led some Democrats to highlight Trump’s own past friendship with the disgraced financier.
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Friday, Trump said he had instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice to probe “Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement and relationship” with ex-President Bill Clinton, ex-Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, and bank JPMorgan Chase. He argued the Democrats were using “the Epstein Hoax” to deflect attention from the government shutdown “and all of their other failures.”
Bondi said she has assigned US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton to lead the investigation.
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… pic.twitter.com/5zlybVu44U
Epstein, who died by suicide in a prison cell in 2019, was known for his connections with many wealthy and famous individuals. Clinton wrote in his 2024 memoirs that he “had no inkling” of Epstein’s crimes and cut ties with him when he was first arrested in 2006. Trump also insisted that he was unaware of Epstein’s offenses and stopped contacts with him in the early 2000s.
In 2023, JPMorgan, one of America’s largest banks, settled lawsuits with the US Virgin Islands over allegations that it kept Epstein as a valued client even after his 2006 arrest and benefited from sex trafficking.
JPMorgan spokeswoman Trish Wexler said in a statement on Friday that the government has failed to share “damning information” about Epstein with the bank. “We regret any association we had with the man, but did not help him commit his heinous acts,” she said.
According to Politico, House Democrats are planning to hold a vote on Tuesday to compel the Department of Justice to release the remaining unredacted files related to the Epstein case.
