In a recent Truth Social post, Trump levied accusations against Democrats, claiming they were attempting to reignite interest in his past associations with Jeffrey Epstein. He asserted that they are utilizing what he termed the “Epstein Hoax” to divert attention from their own shortcomings, including a “disastrous SHUTDOWN” and other failures.

Trump stated, “I will be requesting A.G. Pam Bondi, along with the Department of Justice and our esteemed patriots at the FBI, to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s connections with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and other individuals and entities to ascertain their interactions with him.”

Later that Friday, Bondi confirmed her intent to initiate the investigation as directed by Trump, appointing Jay Clayton, New York’s southern district’s chief prosecutor, to head the federal inquiry.

“Thank you, Mr. President,” Bondi expressed in a post on X, attaching a screenshot of Trump’s directive.

This development marks Trump’s most pronounced attempt to undermine efforts by both Democrats and some Republicans to unveil all Epstein-related case files. It is yet another illustration of Trump’s strategy to neutralize the issue through assertive action, even as allies become increasingly concerned that his tactics might be exacerbating the situation and undermining his credibility.

“Why doesn’t he just release these? Just release them!” conservative podcast host Megyn Kelly said of the Epstein files during her show on Wednesday. “Now he’s in a position of being, like, singled out as the only one, allegedly, as opposed to one of a slew of names.”

Trump earlier this week tried and failed to convince Republicans to block a discharge petition in the US House forcing a vote on the release of the Justice Department’s Epstein files, with the White House even holding a Situation Room meeting with one key GOP politician who had signed on ahead of it receiving its decisive 218th signature.

Officials during that meeting argued that the administration was not hiding anything, according to a senior White House official, including showing GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert unreleased documents obtained by the House Oversight Committee but they could not change her mind.

The White House’s approach to the Epstein case and its subsequent fallout has perplexed even some administration officials and Trump allies, some of whom have been telling him and his advisers to change strategy for months.

In recent days, at least one ally on Capitol Hill directly told Trump that he was getting bad advice on his approach to the Epstein case by continuing to delay and downplay it, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.

“These people have no idea what advice the president is getting,” another senior White House official said.

The first senior White House official pushed back on the idea that the White House had been caught flat footed, noting that the administration, while aware of the emails, intentionally did not want to insert Epstein back into the news cycle. Asked about the message to the president from that congressional ally, a White House spokesperson reiterated that the emails released earlier this week “prove literally nothing” and pivoted to attacking Democrats for trying to use the Epstein “hoax” to distract from the shutdown.

Multiple other sources told CNN that Trump himself has dictated the administration’s response to Epstein-related developments, specifically opposing any actions that risk pushing the storyline forward.

“Trump doesn’t want his people to get ahead of it. Everybody has been instructed to wait until information comes out and then respond that it is a hoax or doesn’t prove anything,” one of the sources said.

In the House, Speaker Mike Johnson now plans to schedule a vote on releasing the Epstein files next week, in a strategic shift spurred by the realisation that it could not be stopped. The vote is expected to attract significant support from rank-and-file GOP politicians.

The president has declined to take questions from the press since the House Oversight Committee’s release on Wednesday of emails Epstein wrote that mentioned Trump by name. Trump did not receive or send any of the messages, which largely predate his time as president, and he has not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.

But on Friday, Trump again vented his frustration over the state of affairs in a series of Truth Social posts, blasting Republicans backing the Epstein files release as “soft and foolish” and repeatedly branding the issue a “Hoax.”

“This is another Russia, Russia, Russia Scam, with all arrows pointing to the Democrats,” Trump wrote in one post.

He announced his demand for a Justice Department investigation into “many other people and institutions” in a subsequent Truth Social post.

In thousands of emails reviewed by CNN, Epstein corresponded with a wide group of powerful and influential people, including prominent Democrats.

Among his most frequent communications were with former Obama White House chief counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, who represented Epstein as his attorney, and Summers, the former Clinton Treasury secretary and Obama National Economic Council director. (Corresponding with Epstein would not be a crime, and there’s no evidence in the emails that any of them participated in Epstein’s wrongdoing.)

CNN has reached out to Clinton, Summers and Hoffman.

In a statement, JPMorgan Chase spokesperson Patricia Wexler said the bank “ended our relationship with him years before his arrest on sex trafficking charges.”

JPMorgan paid $438,450,000 in 2023 to settle a class action lawsuit filed by Epstein’s survivors that alleged it turned a blind eye to unusual cash transactions that they claimed enabled Epstein’s sex trafficking. JPMorgan also paid $112,500,000 to settle with the US Virgin Islands. The bank did not admit or deny any wrongdoing in either settlement.

“The government had damning information about his crimes and failed to share it with us or other banks,” Wexler said. “We regret any association we had with the man, but did not help him commit his heinous acts.”