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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.<\/p>\n
But the request comes shortly after a trove of newly released emails raised questions about Trump\u2019s own relationship with Epstein.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is another Russia, Russia, Russia Scam, with all arrows pointing to the Democrats,\u201d Trump wrote<\/a>, framing the emails as a \u201choax\u201d.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cEpstein was a Democrat, and he is the Democrat\u2019s problem, not the Republican\u2019s problem!\u201d Trump wrote, before adding: \u201cDon\u2019t waste your time with Trump. I have a Country to run!\u201d<\/p>\n In the second<\/a> of two lengthy posts, Trump said he would ask Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate former President Clinton, as well as Clinton\u2019s Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, venture capitalist Reid Hoffman and the bank JPMorgan Chase.<\/p>\n The Epstein scandal has proven to be an enduring headache for Trump during his second administration, as he faces bipartisan pressure to release the full slate of documents pertaining to the case and address his own involvement.<\/p>\n A wealthy financier, Epstein was known to socialise with powerful figures, including Trump, Clinton and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, a former prince in the United Kingdom whose involvement resulted in the loss of his royal titles last month.<\/p>\n Those associations have long drawn questions about how Epstein may have been shielded from accountability.<\/p>\n Hundreds of women have come forward to accuse Epstein of sexual abuse and trafficking. In 2008, Epstein was convicted in Florida of sexually abusing a minor and solicitation, but critics saw his plea deal as overly lenient.<\/p>\n At the time of his death by suicide in 2019, he was in jail, facing federal sex-trafficking charges. The circumstances of his death have fuelled conspiracy theories, as has the high-profile nature of his social circle, leading some to believe there was a cover-up.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s own relationship with Epstein came roaring back into the spotlight on Wednesday, as the longest government shutdown in US history came to a close.<\/p>\n The House of Representatives had come back into session for the first time in 54 days in order to vote on a funding bill that would end the 42-day-long shutdown.<\/p>\n But that morning, Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released<\/a> three excerpted emails from conversations between Epstein, his convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell and the writer Michael Wolff, all of which discussed Trump. They appeared to suggest Trump knew about Epstein\u2019s sexual relationships.<\/p>\n In one email, Epstein wrote, \u201cI want you to realize that that dog that hasn\u2019t barked is trump.. [Victim] spent hours at my house with him.\u201d<\/p>\n In another, Epstein told Wolff, \u201cOf course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n A third email from Wolff suggested Trump had been to Epstein\u2019s house and on his plane, and discussed how Trump might address those visits in a CNN interview.<\/p>\n The Trump administration quickly leapt into damage control, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt describing the email release as selectively edited and a Democratic \u201csmear\u201d campaign.<\/p>\nRecommended Stories <\/h2>\n
Newly released emails<\/h2>\n