At a routine White House meeting, Bondi and her deputy revealed to the president that other high-profile figures were also named in files reviewed by the Department of Justice, according to the Journal citing senior Trump administration officials.
The details on many of hundreds of names mentioned, including Trump, was characterized by officials as “unverified hearsay,” the report said.
The latest revelation comes as Trump struggles to distance himself from the Epstein affair more than two weeks after Bondi’s department failed to release more documents on the tycoon, who killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking, as promised.
“This is another fake news story, just like the previous story by The Wall Street Journal,” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung told the newspaper.
Trump’s friendship with Epstein, which later soured, is well documented. It’s long been reported that Trump was on Epstein’s flight logs.
Trump was asked by a reporter last week whether Bondi had informed him that his name was in the documents.
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The president replied that Bondi had “given us a very quick briefing,” before pivoting to suggest the controversy surrounding the files is a “hoax.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.