Attorney General Pam Bondi told the US President his name appears “multiple times” in the “truckload” of documents reviewed by the Department of Justice
Donald Trump was informed months ago by Attorney General Pam Bondi that his name appears “multiple times” in the Jeffrey Epstein files, according to US reports.
He was told on the same day she advised against releasing all documents publicly, according to a new report by the Wall Street Journal.
Senior administration officials told the Journal that Bondi met with Trump in May and informed him that his name had surfaced more frequently in the materials than previously believed.
The president, she allegedly said, was listed among hundreds of high-profile figures in the files connected socially to the late financier and convicted sex offender.
The files, officials claimed, contain “unverified hearsay” about Trump and others who were known to have moved in Epstein’s social circles.
According to the report, Bondi advised against making the documents public because they included child pornography and the personal information of survivors.
During the meeting, Trump reportedly deferred to her on whether further documents should be released.
Officials emphasised that the president’s name appearing in the files does not imply any wrongdoing or criminal connection to Epstein’s sex trafficking network.
Administration sources also told the Journal that the May meeting between Trump and Bondi was a routine presidential briefing that touched on a range of matters, and that Epstein was not the main focus.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung dismissed the Journal’s reporting, calling it “fake news” in a statement.
Trump is already suing the Journal for defamation over its story claiming Trump sent Epstein a bawdy note to mark his 50th birthday.
He angrily denied the story, branding it “fake” and suing the paper’s publisher for $10 million.
Since then, the White House has been scrambling to move the public conversation away from Epstein and onto other matters.
This has led to a flurry of announcements and statements – from releasing documents relating to the Martin Luther King Jr assassination, threatening two American football teams to change their names back to previous versions which contained racial slurs and threatening to charge Barack Obama with treason.
“This is another fake news story, just like the previous story by The Wall Street Journal,” said White House communications director Steven Cheung.
Bondi told the WSJ nothing in the files required further investigation.
Bondi’s deputy, Todd Blanche, yesterday announced he had reached out to Ghislaine Maxwell – Epstein’s fixer – to ask her for more information about the dead paedophile and his associates.
The decision to withhold the remaining documents has opened a rift in Trump’s supporter base, with the many furious at the President’s apparent about face on the subject.