Trump was told he's in Epstein files: WSJ

WASHINGTON — United States Attorney General Pam Bondi told President Donald Trump in May that his name appeared in investigative files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

The disclosure about Trump's appearance in the Justice Department's records threatened to deepen a political crisis that has engulfed his administration for weeks. Some Trump supporters have for years fanned conspiracy theories about Epstein's clients and the circumstances of his 2019 death in prison.

The White House sent mixed signals following the story. It released an initial statement characterizing it as "fake news", but a White House official later told Reuters the administration was not denying that Trump's name appears in some files, noting that Trump was already included in a tranche of materials Bondi assembled in February for conservative influencers.