U.S. President Donald Trump has directed an investigation into the relationships of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein with influential Democrats, including former President Bill Clinton and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. This decision comes after the release of 20,000 pages of documents from Epstein’s estate by the U.S. House Oversight Committee, which Democrats have used to draw attention to Trump’s previous ties with the disgraced financier.
Trump claimed the Democrats are leveraging the Epstein scandal to divert focus from the government shutdown and other policy failures. Attorney General Pam Bondi has assigned U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton of the Southern District of New York to lead this probe. Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019, was known for his associations with wealthy and famous individuals. Clinton recently stated in his 2024 memoirs that he had no prior knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and severed ties with him after his 2006 arrest. Trump also asserted that he was unaware of Epstein’s offenses and ended contact with him in the early 2000s.
The probe includes scrutiny of Epstein’s ties to JPMorgan Chase and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. In 2023, JPMorgan settled lawsuits with the U.S. Virgin Islands over allegations that the bank maintained Epstein as a client despite his 2006 arrest and possibly benefited from sex trafficking. JPMorgan’s spokeswoman, Trish Wexler, stated that the government has not provided the bank with damaging information about Epstein. Meanwhile, House Democrats have announced plans to vote on Tuesday to demand the Department of Justice release additional unredacted files from the Epstein case.