The White House responded after it was reported that US President Donald Trump was informed in May that he was one of the hundreds of names listed in Justice Department records involving deceased convicted paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the president was made aware of the fact by Attorney General Pam Bondi through a routine briefing. It added that appearing in the documents was not an indication of any wrongdoing by Trump.
A White House spokesman referred to it as a “fake news story” in response. The Trump White House has been coming under increasing pressure to reveal more details about Epstein, with whom Trump socialised before, the president has said, they had a falling out in 2004.
During his presidential campaign a year ago, Trump had vowed to make such documents on the influential sex offender public. But his allies have since become impatient with the administration’s response to the scandal, including its inability to produce a rumoured “client list” of Epstein. In a memo earlier this month, the Justice Department and FBI stated there was no such list.
Epstein died in a cell in a New York prison in 2019 while he was waiting for his trial on sex trafficking charges after a previous conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor. His death was declared a suicide.
His offence and the circumstances of his death have been the subject of conspiracy theories for a long time. In a separate move on Wednesday, a US district judge in Florida rejected the Justice Department’s request to unseal judicial documents on Epstein that are connected to his prosecution there.
Later Wednesday, a US House of Representatives subcommittee voted to subpoena the Justice Department for its documents. The legal subpoena has to be signed by the chairman of the committee before it can officially be issued.
When she briefed Trump in May, Bondi informed the president that the documents included hearsay regarding numerous individuals, including Trump, the Wall Street Journal reported in its story.
That’s in contrast to an account provided last week by the president, who said “no, no” when asked by a reporter if he had been briefed by Bondi that his name was mentioned in the documents.
Bondi also allegedly informed the president that the Epstein files contained child porn and that victim details are not to be released, the Wall Street Journal wrote on Wednesday.
Appearing in the files is not proof of criminal behaviour, nor has Trump ever been charged with a crime related to the Epstein case. The report was subsequently replicated by other US media, but not independently confirmed by the BBC.
Steven Cheung, a representative for Trump, referred to the story as “nothing more than a follow-up on the fake news tales invented by the Democrats and liberal media, similar to the Obama Russia-gate scandal, which President Trump was correct about”.
The attorney general stated: “Nothing in the files warranted further investigation or prosecution. FBI Director Kash Patel added: “The criminal leakers and Fake News media work tirelessly to undermine President Trump with smears and lies, and this story is no different.”
