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A new report suggests that President Donald Trump was aware in May that his name was included in the Epstein files, contradicting his claims this month that he hadn’t spoken with Department of Justice (DOJ) officials about the issue.
The Wall Street Journal, citing multiple sources with knowledge of Trump’s conversations with Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche (a former personal lawyer of Trump’s), reported on Wednesday that the two had met with Trump this spring to discuss the department’s files on the disgraced financier and child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
The report contradicts Trump’s recent claim to reporters that he hadn’t discussed details of the Epstein files with those officials — including whether his name was included.
“Did [Bondi] tell you at all that your name appears in the files?” a reporter asked him last week.
“No, no. She’s given us just a very quick briefing,” Trump insisted.
The Wall Street Journal report comes amid public outcry over the administration’s lack of transparency on the Epstein case, including among members of Trump’s MAGA base.
Trump had a well-documented friendship with Epstein from the 1980s to the early 2000s, and his name being mentioned in the files doesn’t necessarily indicate wrongdoing or criminal behavior. But his relationship with Epstein has faced renewed scrutiny after Bondi released a two-page report in early July suggesting that the long-rumored “client list” of Epstein’s co-conspirators didn’t actually exist. Bondi had previously promised to release a much more comprehensive report, and even suggested in February that such a list was on her desk for review.
Trump himself had suggested during the 2024 presidential campaign that he was open to releasing the Epstein files — a move that his far right supporters had spent years calling for due to conspiracy theories sparked by Epstein’s criminal actions and death in 2019. Trump also baselessly implied last year that the Biden administration had been concealing aspects of the Epstein investigation from the public in order to protect individuals on the supposed list.
Trump’s and Epstein’s relationship included many documented instances of the two objectifying young women. In one 2002 interview, Trump noted Epstein’s preference for women on “the younger side,” adding that the financier was “a terrific guy” who was “a lot of fun to be with.”
Following Bondi’s brief report, portions of Trump’s MAGA base expressed frustration with the White House’s lack of transparency. Trump lashed out at them, writing on social media that his “PAST supporters” were “weaklings” who “have bought into this ‘bullshit,’ hook line and sinker.”
As pressure mounted on the issue, Trump ordered the DOJ to request a federal judge to release grand jury testimonies relating to Epstein’s case. (Notably, these testimonies would not provide the bulk of the Epstein files that the DOJ has in its possession.) Earlier this week, the judge refused to entertain the request, noting that the administration didn’t provide sufficient rationale for such a move in its filings.
A spokesperson for the White House called The Wall Street Journal report a “fake news story” — a common refrain used by Trump administration officials to describe factual coverage of his actions.
Trump similarly derided previous reporting from the publication on a birthday card he sent to Epstein that included a drawing of a nude female figure, claiming that the report couldn’t possibly be true because he doesn’t draw. (In fact, there are plenty of examples of Trump auctioning off his drawings for profit and donating his doodles to charities.)
The White House spokesperson also defended Trump by claiming that his friendship with Epstein ended years ago, after Trump had “kicked [Epstein] out of his [Mar-a-Lago] club for being a creep.” In fact, Trump’s friendship with Epstein ended after a dispute over property, and Epstein’s membership at Mar-a-Lago wasn’t terminated until 2008, two years after a grand jury charged him over allegations of having sex with a minor.
The Journal’s report is corroborated by comments from former DOGE head Elon Musk, who recently had a public falling out with Trump.
“Trump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public,” Musk said in June.
Americans are, by and large, not happy with Trump’s handling of the Epstein files, with a dramatic shift in opinion among his own base evident over the past month.
A CBS News poll published earlier this month found that 75 percent of Americans are dissatisfied with Trump’s handling of the case, including two in five self-identified MAGA supporters. And in an Economist/YouGov poll published on Tuesday, 7 in 10 Americans (69 percent) said they believe the “government is covering up evidence it has about Epstein,” including half of Trump’s 2024 voters (52 percent).
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