United States President Donald Trump was briefed by his attorney general that his name appears in files related to investigations into the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, US media outlets have reported. Trump was told by US Attorney General Pam Bondi that he appears in the so-called “Epstein files” during the US Department of Justice’s review of the case in May, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and CNN reported on Wednesday.
The reports, which cited unnamed anonymous sources, did not specify the context of the references to Trump’s name in the documents. But the Journal, which first reported the news, said Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told the US president that the files contained “what officials felt was unverified hearsay about many people, including Trump”. It is typical for law enforcement to collect information about people who are not suspected of any wrongdoing while following leads during a criminal investigation.
Asked earlier this month if Bondi had told him he was mentioned in the documents, Trump told reporters: “No, no. She’s given us just a very quick briefing, and in terms of the credibility of the different things that they’ve seen.” White House communications director Steven Cheung branded the reports “fake news” and said Trump had ejected Epstein from his Florida club Mar-a-Lago for “being a creep”, according to the reports.
Trump is widely known to have been friendly with Epstein during the 1990s and 2000s, once describing him as a “terrific guy” who liked women “on the younger side”. Trump in 2019 told reporters that he had not spoken to Epstein in 15 years, after a “falling out” between the pair.
The reports of Trump’s inclusion in the documents immediately increased pressure on his administration to release more material about Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 while facing sex trafficking charges. Senator Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, on Wednesday said Bondi and FBI director Kash Patel should be called to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“We need to bring Bondi and Patel into the Judiciary Committee to testify about this now,” Schiff said in a video posted on X. Trump has been under pressure to release all information about the investigations into Epstein, particularly from segments of his “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) base, who had anticipated his administration would confirm their belief in a conspiracy implicating powerful elites in sex crimes against children.
Many of Trump’s most devoted supporters have been outraged at the findings of a Justice Department and FBI review that concluded Epstein died by suicide and there was no credible evidence of him blackmailing powerful figures. The review determined that releasing more material into the public domain was not “appropriate or warranted”. Bondi has said that thousands of videos retrieved by investigators could not be released as they consist of illegal child exploitation material downloaded by Epstein.
On Wednesday, a US federal judge rejected a request from the Justice Department to release transcripts from a grand jury investigation into Epstein. US District Judge Robin Rosenberg of Florida said her hands were “tied” in the matter as the request, initiated by Trump to quell the backlash among his base, was not part of a judicial proceeding. The unsealing of grand jury testimony is relatively rare, given the need for secrecy in criminal investigations.
While key members of Trump’s inner circle stoked conspiracy theories about Epstein, the president has angrily dismissed the ongoing interest in the case, calling it a “scam” and a “hoax”. The controversy surrounding Epstein’s case continues to draw attention, with many calling for greater transparency and accountability.