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NEW YORK -- Acceding to President Donald Trump’s demands, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday that she has ordered a apical national authoritative to analyse sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to Trump governmental foes, including erstwhile President Bill Clinton.
Bondi posted connected X that she was assigning Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to pb the probe, capping an eventful week successful which legislature Republicans released astir 23,000 pages of documents from Epstein’s property and House Democrats seized connected emails mentioning Trump.
Trump, who was friends with Epstein for years, didn’t explicate what expected crimes helium wanted the Justice Department to investigate. None of the men helium mentioned successful a societal media station demanding the probe has been accused of intersexual misconduct by immoderate of Epstein’s victims.
Hours earlier Bondi’s announcement, Trump posted connected his Truth Social level that helium would inquire her, the Justice Department and the FBI to analyse Epstein’s “involvement and relationship” with Clinton and others, including erstwhile Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and LinkedIn laminitis and Democratic donor Reid Hoffman.
Trump, calling the substance “the Epstein Hoax, involving Democrats, not Republicans,” said the probe should besides see fiscal elephantine JPMorgan Chase, which provided banking services to Epstein, and “many different radical and institutions.”
“This is different Russia, Russia, Russia Scam, with each arrows pointing to the Democrats,” the Republican president wrote, referring to peculiar counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of alleged Russian interference successful Trump’s 2016 predetermination triumph implicit Bill Clinton’s wife, erstwhile Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Asked aboriginal Friday whether helium should beryllium ordering up specified investigations, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One: “I’m the main instrumentality enforcement serviceman of the country. I’m allowed to bash it.”
In a July memo regarding the Epstein investigation, the FBI said, “We did not uncover grounds that could predicate an probe against uncharged 3rd parties.”
The president's request for an probe — and Bondi's speedy acquiescence — is the latest example of the erosion of the Justice Department's accepted independency from the White House since Trump took office.
It is besides an bonzer effort astatine deflection. For decades, Trump himself has been scrutinized for his closeness to Epstein — though similar the radical helium present wants investigated, helium has not been accused of intersexual misconduct by Epstein's victims.
A JPMorgan Chase spokesperson, Patricia Wexler, said the institution regretted associating with Epstein “but did not assistance him perpetrate his heinous acts.”
“The authorities had damning accusation astir his crimes and failed to stock it with america oregon different banks," she said. The institution agreed antecedently to pay millions of dollars to Epstein's victims, who had sued arguing that the slope ignored reddish flags astir transgression activity.
Clinton has acknowledged traveling connected Epstein’s backstage pitchy but has said done a spokesperson that helium had nary cognition of the precocious financier’s crimes. He besides has ne'er been accused of misconduct by Epstein’s known victims.
Clinton's lawman main of unit Angel Ureña posted connected X Friday: "These emails beryllium Bill Clinton did thing and knew nothing. The remainder is sound meant to distract from predetermination losses, backfiring shutdowns, and who knows what else."
Epstein pleaded blameworthy successful Florida successful 2008 to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl, but was spared a agelong jailhouse word erstwhile the U.S. lawyer successful Florida agreed not to prosecute him implicit allegations that helium had paid galore different children for intersexual acts. After serving astir a twelvemonth successful jailhouse and a enactment merchandise program, Epstein resumed his concern and societal beingness until national prosecutors successful New York revived the lawsuit successful 2019. Epstein killed himself portion awaiting trial connected enactment trafficking charges.
Summers and Hoffman had thing to bash with either case, but some were affable with Epstein and exchanged emails with him. Those messages were among the documents released this week, on with different correspondence Epstein had with friends and concern associates successful the years earlier his death.
Nothing successful the messages suggested immoderate wrongdoing connected the men’s part, different than associating with idiosyncratic who had been accused of enactment crimes against children.
Summers, who served successful Clinton’s furniture and is simply a erstwhile Harvard University president, antecedently said successful a connection that helium has “great regrets successful my life” and that “my relation with Jeffrey Epstein was a large mistake of judgement.”
Hoffman posted connected X Friday night, “Trump should merchandise each of the Epstein files: each idiosyncratic and each papers successful the files.” Hoffman bankrolled writer E. Jean Carroll’s intersexual maltreatment and defamation suit against Trump.
After Epstein’s enactment trafficking apprehension successful 2019, Hoffman said he’d lone had a fewer interactions with Epstein, each related to his fundraising for MIT’s Media Lab. He nevertheless apologized, saying that “by agreeing to enactment successful immoderate fundraising enactment wherever Epstein was present, I helped to repair his estimation and perpetuate injustice.”
Bondi, successful her post, praised Clayton arsenic “one of the astir susceptible and trusted prosecutors successful the country” and said the Justice Department “will prosecute this with urgency and integrity to present answers to the American people.”
Trump called Clayton "a large man, a large attorney,” though helium said Bondi chose him for the job.
Clayton, the president of the Securities and Exchange Commission during Trump’s archetypal term, took implicit successful April arsenic U.S. lawyer for the Southern District of New York — the aforesaid bureau that indicted Epstein and won a enactment trafficking condemnation against Epstein’s longtime confidante, Ghislaine Maxwell, successful 2021.
Trump suggested portion campaigning past twelvemonth that he’d question to unfastened up the government’s lawsuit files connected Epstein, but changed people successful caller months, blaming Democrats and coating the substance arsenic a “hoax” amid questions astir what cognition helium whitethorn person had astir Epstein’s yearslong exploitation of underage girls.
On Wednesday, Democrats connected the House Oversight Committee released 3 Epstein email exchanges that referenced Trump, including 1 from 2019 successful which Epstein said the president “knew astir the girls" and asked Maxwell to stop.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt accused Democrats of having “selectively leaked emails” to smear Trump.
Soon after, Republicans connected the committee disclosed a acold bigger trove of Epstein's email correspondence, including messages helium sent to longtime Trump state Steve Bannon and to Britain's erstwhile Prince Andrew, present known arsenic Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Andrew settled a suit retired of tribunal with 1 of Epstein's victims, who said she had been paid to person enactment with the prince.
The House is speeding toward a ballot adjacent week to unit the Justice Department to merchandise each files and communications related to Epstein.
“I don’t attraction astir it, merchandise oregon not,” Trump said Friday. “If you’re going to bash it, past you person to spell into Epstein’s friends," helium added, naming Clinton and Hoffman.
Still, helium said: “This is simply a Democrat hoax. And a couple, a fewer Republicans person gone on with it due to the fact that they’re anemic and ineffective.” __
Bedayn reported from Denver. Associated Press writer Chris Megerian aboard Air Force One contributed to this report.
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