Trump responds to appearance in new Epstein emails by pushing DOJ probe of Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman

Hours after the documents spread widely online, Trump took to the Truth Social website With overwhelming demandHe said he would ask Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Justice Department and the FBI to investigate Epstein’s ties to “Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reed Hoffman, JPMorgan, Chase, and many other people and institutions,” claiming that “all arrows point to Democrats.”

Bondi quickly agreed, send On Friday afternoon the 10th she assigned attorney Jay Clayton to the case. Clayton is a prominent figure among Republicans, having chaired the Securities and Exchange Commission during Trump’s first term and now serving as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Clinton has He strongly denied That he knew about Epstein’s crimes. Epstein was mentioned in emails Several times And Clinton “was never on the island.” However, both They knew each other In the early 2000s. Clinton did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On the other hand, Summers had a close and apparently personal relationship with the disgraced financier who at times served as his unofficial relationship coach. Newly released emails from 2017 to 2019 show the former Treasury secretary reached out to Epstein regularly, sometimes multiple times a day, for advice about his interactions with a woman in London.

In one conversation, Summers lamented that the woman had become distant: “I told her what she was up to. She said, ‘I’m busy.’” You said too shy,” he wrote. “She’s smart,” Epstein responded within minutes, offering reassurance and strategy. Makes you pay for past mistakes. “Ignore the father, I’m going out with the motorcycle guy… Annoyed showing interest, no whining of power.”

Other emails show Summers forwarding Epstein’s notes from the woman and asking if he should respond. “I do not think any response was appropriate for some time,” Summers wrote in one instance. Epstein encouraged the silence, saying, “She’s really starting to look needy Nice.”

Summers has He said previously He regrets his past relationships with Epstein. Summers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, billionaire investor and major Democratic donor, had an established relationship with Epstein, according to Documents Reviewed before Wall Street Journal. Schedules show that Epstein planned multiple trips with him — including two visits to Epstein’s island, Little St. James, in 2014 — and arranged for Hoffman to stay overnight at his Manhattan home before attending a “breakfast party” with Bill Gates and others the next morning.

Hoffman now says he deeply regrets those interactions. He told the court: “It disturbs me that by seconding my association, I have helped his reputation and therefore delayed justice for his survivors.” magazine. “In the end, I made a mistake, and I’m sorry for my poor personal judgement.”

Hoffman could not be reached for comment.

Trump’s listing of JPMorgan comes after the bank paid more than $450 million in 2023 across multiple settlements related to its historic relationship with Epstein — including a $290 million agreement with a class of victims and a $75 million deal with the U.S. Virgin Islands. The bank has repeatedly said it “deeply regrets any association” with Epstein and would not have retained him as a client had it known of his crimes.

JPMorgan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Epstein has repeatedly described Trump in blunt and often hostile terms

The release of the files — which Trump framed as an attempt to expose the “Epstein hoax” that he claims Democrats are using as a weapon to distract from the shutdown — shows Epstein discussing Trump frequently. They contradict Trump’s account of their split, and Epstein offers his own, often scathing, assessments of the man who would become president.

Through his letters with lawyers, acquaintances, reporters, academics and political figures, Epstein constantly quoted Trump and often bragged that he had an inside view of Trump’s private world. In an interview in 2017, Epstein roundly dismissed him, saying: “Your world doesn’t understand how stupid he really is. He will blame everyone around him.” A year later, he described Trump as “unbelievably evil, crazy…crazy!!!”

The emails also directly challenge one of Trump’s frequent claims: that he… Epstein fired from Mar-a-Lago for inappropriate conduct.

In a 2019 letter to author Michael Wolff, Epstein flatly rejected the story: “Trump said he asked me to resign, and I was never a member.” The documents do not support these assertions, and the White House has denied them.

One of the most explosive statements appears in a 2011 note she sent to Ghislaine Maxwell: “This dog that did not bark is Trump… (the victim) spent hours with him at my house, and he was not mentioned once.” During a press conferenceThe White House pointed to the testimony of Virginia Giuffre, a prominent Epstein accuser who committed suicide earlier this year, and said Trump was not involved “in anything.”

Epstein also imagined himself as having influence over Trump. In a December 2018 message exchange, after someone suggested that Trump’s critics were simply trying to “take down” the president, Epstein responded: “Yes, it’s wild. Because I’m the one who can take him down.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.