United States President Donald Trump has called on the Department of Justice to investigate ties between one of his Democratic predecessors, Bill Clinton, and the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
According to Al Jazeera, but the request comes shortly after a trove of newly released emails raised questions about Trump’s own relationship with Epstein.
On Friday, Trump took to social media to once again frame the emails as a distraction. He compared them to an investigation into ties between Russian election interference and his presidential campaign in 2016.
“This is another Russia, Russia, Russia Scam, with all arrows pointing to the Democrats,” Trump wrote, framing the emails as a “hoax.”
He also sought to shift scrutiny of his actions onto Democrats and financial institutions, arguing that they had deeper relationships with Epstein than he did.
“Epstein was a Democrat, and he is the Democrat’s problem, not the Republican’s problem!” Trump wrote, before adding: “Don’t waste your time with Trump. I have a Country to run!”
In the second of two lengthy posts, Trump said he would ask Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate former President Clinton, as well as Clinton’s Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, venture capitalist Reid Hoffman and the bank JPMorgan Chase.
Bondi responded within hours. On the social media platform X, she thanked Trump for his request and explained she had assigned US Attorney Jay Clayton to the probe.
