Brief Summary
This article discusses how Attorney General Pam Bondi informed President Trump that his name appeared in the Jeffrey Epstein files during a briefing. The disclosure was part of a broader re-examination of the case by F.B.I. agents and prosecutors. While Trump's name appeared in the files, officials stated that nothing warranted further investigation or prosecution.
- Pam Bondi informed President Trump about his name appearing in the Jeffrey Epstein files.
- The disclosure was part of a briefing on the re-examination of the case.
- Officials stated that nothing in the files warranted further investigation or prosecution.
[Briefing on Epstein Files]
Attorney General Pam Bondi informed President Trump in the spring that his name was mentioned in the Jeffrey Epstein files. This disclosure occurred during a briefing that included Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and covered the re-examination of the case by F.B.I. agents and prosecutors. Bondi and Blanche informed the president that his name, along with other high-profile figures, appeared in documents connected to the case that had not been previously made public.
[Trump's Connection to Epstein]
Trump, who was once a friend of Jeffrey Epstein until a falling out in the 2000s, had previously appeared in documents related to the investigation. Earlier, Bondi distributed binders about the Epstein files at the White House, which included the phone numbers of Trump's former wife and daughter. In response to questions about the briefing, Bondi and Blanche stated that they made the president aware of the findings as part of their routine briefing, but nothing in the files warranted further investigation or prosecution.
[White House Response]
White House communications director Steven Cheung did not address questions about the briefing but dismissed any suggestion of wrongdoing by Trump related to Epstein as "fake news." Cheung added that Trump had ejected Epstein from his club, Mar-a-Lago, for "being a creep." Department officials have regularly informed some White House officials about developments in the inquiry, which is permissible under the law. One person close to Trump indicated that White House officials were not concerned about the disclosures, given that Trump’s name had appeared in previous information released by Bondi.
