Overview
- The House Oversight Committee released private emails and letters from Jeffrey Epstein, including a Nov. 23, 2017 message that listed “Trump” among Thanksgiving attendees and writings alleging Trump “knew about the girls.”
- Trump said he knows nothing about the claims, labeled the matter a hoax, and urged Attorney General Pam Bondi, the DOJ and the FBI to investigate figures such as Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman and JPMorgan.
- Bondi has assigned Manhattan prosecutor Jay Clayton to examine some of the names cited in the communications, according to the accounts of her office’s actions.
- The disclosures have deepened Republican infighting, with Trump withdrawing his endorsement of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and castigating Rep. Thomas Massie as the House weighs an Epstein files transparency push.
- The released materials are private assertions rather than adjudicated facts, and in July the DOJ and FBI said they lacked evidence to open cases or publish the files.