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Bill Clinton addresses the audience at the 2025 Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting held at the New York Hilton Midtown on September 25 in New York City. Photo: JP Yim/Getty Images for New York Hilton Midtown
On Friday, President Trump announced that he plans to instruct the Justice Department to investigate Jeffrey Epstein's ties to former President Bill Clinton and other individuals.
Why it’s significant: Trump’s call for a probe follows the release of emails by House Democrats this week, which highlighted Trump’s connections to Epstein, the convicted sex offender.
Trump wrote on Truth Social:
"Now that the Democrats are exploiting the Epstein Hoax, which involves Democrats, not Republicans, to distract from their disastrous SHUTDOWN and numerous other failures, I will be directing A.G. Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice, along with our dedicated patriots at the FBI, to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s relationships with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, J.P. Morgan Chase, and several other individuals and organizations to uncover what was happening with them and him."
Clinton, Summers, and Hoffman did not immediately reply to Axios’ request for comment.
The context: On Wednesday, House Democrats released emails implying that Trump may have been more aware of Epstein’s activities than he has publicly stated.
Background details: Summers served as Treasury Secretary from 1999 to 2001, while Hoffman is a co-founder of LinkedIn.
In 2023, JPMorgan Chase reached a $75 million settlement in a lawsuit alleging that the bank had facilitated and benefited from Epstein’s sex trafficking activities. The bank did not admit to any wrongdoing.
A JPMorgan Chase spokesperson, Patricia Wexler, said:
"The government had critical information about his crimes and did not share it with us or other banks. We regret any association we had with him, but we did not aid in his horrific acts. We ended our relationship with him years before his arrest on sex trafficking charges."
