Trump was told his name was in Jeffrey Epstein files before DOJ withheld documents: WSJ
Trump's meeting with Bondi and her deputy Todd Blanche at the White House occurred weeks before the DOJ, which Bondi leads, said on July 7 that it would not release the Epstein files despite earlier promises by the attorney general and others in the president's orbit that the material would be disclosed to the public.
The president was also told at the meeting that "many other high-profile figures were also named" in the Epstein files, and that the "files contained what officials felt was unverified hearsay about many people, including Trump, who had socialized with Epstein in the past," the Journal reported.
Being mentioned in the Epstein records is not a sign of wrongdoing, the Journal noted.
The DOJ's decision not to release the Epstein files sparked backlash from Trump's MAGA supporters, who have obsessed over conspiracies related to the Epstein case for years.
In the face of that criticism from his political base, Trump last week directed Bondi to seek the unsealing of transcripts for grand jury proceedings related to federal probes of Epstein and his convicted procurer, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Trump had been friends with Epstein for years, but the two men fell out long before Epstein killed himself in jail in August 2019, weeks after being arrested on federal child sex trafficking charges. Epstein also had many other wealthy, high-profile friends, including Britain's Prince Andrew.
Reached for comment on the Journal's new reporting, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung told CNBC, "The fact is that The President kicked [Epstein] out of his [Mar-a-Lago] club for being a creep."
"This is nothing more than a continuation of the fake news stories concocted by the Democrats and the liberal media, just like the Obama Russiagate scandal, which President Trump was right about," Cheung said.
In a joint statement Wednesday on the Journal's reporting, Bondi and Blanche said, "The DOJ and FBI reviewed the Epstein Files and reached the conclusion set out in the July 6 memo. Nothing in the files warranted further investigation or prosecution, and we have filed a motion in court to unseal the underlying grand jury transcripts."
"As part of our routine briefing, we made the President aware of the findings," Blanche and Bondi said.
Trump was asked last week by an ABC News journalist if Bondi had told him "your name appeared in the files."
"No, no," Trump replied. "She's given us just a very quick briefing, and in terms of the credibility of the different things that they've seen."
Trump went on to say he believed that "these files were made up by" former FBI director James Comey, and by the administrations of former Democratic presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
The DOJ last week fired Manhattan federal prosecutor Maurene Comey, the daughter of James Comey, whose past cases had included the federal prosecutions of Epstein and Maxwell.
The Journal last week published an article reporting that Trump in 2003 sent Epstein a "bawdy" letter to mark his 50th birthday, at Maxwell's request.
The letter "contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker," the Journal reported.
"A pair of small arcs denotes the woman's breasts, and the future president's signature is a squiggly 'Donald' below her waist, mimicking pubic hair," according to the newspaper.
"The letter concludes: 'Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret,'" the Journal wrote.
Trump has angrily denied writing the letter.
"This is not me. This is a fake thing. It's a fake Wall Street Journal story," he said on Thursday "I never wrote a picture in my life. I don't draw pictures of women," he said. "It's not my language. It's not my words."
On Friday, the president filed a defamation lawsuit related to the story against media mogul Rupert Murdoch, the company his family controls, News Corp and its CEO Robert Thomson, the Journal's publisher, Dow Jones & Co., and the two reporters who wrote the article, which was published Thursday evening. News Corp owns the Journal.
Trump's lawsuit seeks at least $10 billion in damages.
A Dow Jones spokesperson told CNBC: "We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit."
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