Donald Trump’s name appeared “multiple times” in documents related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein when the Justice Department reviewed his files earlier this year, according to senior administration officials in a new report from the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.
During a meeting with the president in May, Attorney General Pam Bondi let him know his name was alongside “other high-profile figures” in the documents, the report said.
“They told the president at the meeting that the files contained what officials felt was unverified hearsay about many people, including Trump, who had socialized with Epstein in the past, some of the officials said,” The Journal reported. “One of the officials familiar with the documents said they contain hundreds of other names.”
Bondi and other Justice Department officials told President Trump he was not the “focus” of the documents and they did not plan on releasing more documents tied to the investigation into Epstein; the officials made that decision because the material contained child porn and personal information of the victims. The president said he would defer to the Justice Department’s decision.
The report comes after some Trump supporters have been upset with the administration over its handling of documents tied to the convicted sex offender.
Bondi, in February, said Epstein’s client list was “on my desk right now to review,” and that same month, a number of right-leaning commentators were given binders labeled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1” during a visit to the White House.
But the Trump Administration has since been criticized after the Justice Department and FBI earlier this month said there was no incriminating Epstein client list to release, or proof Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals.
To point to a few examples of pro-MAGA commentators being upset, Tucker Carlson called out Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi, saying “you’re not going to shout me down” for asking “pretty reasonable questions.” And The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh also said he will not drop the issue, even though the president would like conservative commentators to do so.
“I want to make this very clear to those on the right, including the president himself, who are telling us to just drop the subject and move on. We can’t drop it,” Walsh said on his podcast.
And last week, the Wall Street Journal reported Trump had sent a “bawdy” birthday note to Epstein in 2003; the president denied he sent the note and sued the paper and Rupert Murdoch for $10 billion.
In an effort to quiet the criticism and questions around Epstein, Trump last week ordered Bondi to “produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval.” He added “This SCAM, perpetuated by the Democrats, should end, right now!”
