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WASHINGTON:  US 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 case records threatened to deepen a political crisis that has engulfed his administration for weeks. Some Trump supporters for years have 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.
Trump, who was friendly with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s, appears multiple times on flight logs for Epstein’s private plane in the 1990s. Trump and several members of his family also appear in an Epstein contact book, alongside hundreds of others.
Much of that material had been publicly released in the criminal case against Epstein’s former associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison after her conviction for child sex trafficking and other crimes.
During her trial, Epstein’s longtime pilot testified that Trump flew on Epstein’s private plane multiple times. Trump has denied being on the plane.
Reuters was not able to immediately verify the Journal’s report.
Trump has faced intense backlash from his own supporters after his administration said it would not release the files, reversing a campaign promise.
The Justice Department said in a memo earlier this month that there was no basis to continue probing the Epstein case, sparking anger among some prominent Trump supporters who demanded more information about wealthy and powerful people who had interacted with Epstein.
Trump has not been accused of wrongdoing related to Epstein and has said their friendship ended before Epstein’s legal troubles first began two decades ago.
Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a statement that did not directly address the Journal’s report.
“Nothing in the files warranted further investigation or prosecution, and we have filed a motion in court to unseal the underlying grand jury transcripts,” the officials said. “As part of our routine briefing, we made the President aware of the findings.”
The newspaper reported that Bondi and her deputy told Trump at a White House meeting that his name, as well as those of “many other high-profile figures,” appeared in the files.
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, to which he had pleaded not guilty. In a separate case, Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to a prostitution charge in Florida and received a 13-month sentence in what is now widely regarded as too lenient a deal with prosecutors.
Under political pressure last week, Trump directed the Justice Department to seek the release of sealed grand jury transcripts related to Epstein.
On Wednesday, US District Judge Robin Rosenberg denied one of those requests, finding that it did not fall into any of the exceptions to rules requiring grand jury material be kept secret.
That motion stemmed from federal investigations into Epstein in 2005 and 2007, according to court documents; the department has also requested the unsealing of transcripts in Manhattan federal court related to later indictments brought against Epstein and Maxwell.
Last week, the Journal reported that Trump had sent Epstein a bawdy birthday note in 2003 that ended, “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”
Reuters has not confirmed the authenticity of the alleged letter. Trump has sued the Journal and its owners, including billionaire Rupert Murdoch, asserting that the birthday note was fake.
Trump and his advisers have long engaged in conspiracy theories, including about Epstein, that have resonated with Trump’s political base. The Make American Great Again movement’s broad refusal to accept his administration’s argument that those theories are now unfounded is unusual for a politician who is accustomed to enjoying relatively unchallenged loyalty from his supporters.
Epstein hung himself in prison, according to the New York City chief medical examiner. But his connections with wealthy and powerful individuals prompted speculation that his death was not a suicide. The Justice Department said in its memo this month that it had concluded Epstein died by his own hand.
In a sign of how the issue has bedeviled Trump and divided his fellow Republicans, US House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday abruptly said he would send lawmakers home for the summer a day early to avoid a floor fight over a vote on the Epstein files.
His decision temporarily stymied a push by Democrats and some Republicans for a vote on a bipartisan resolution that would require the Justice Department to release all Epstein-related documents.
But a subcommittee of the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday approved a subpoena seeking all Justice Department files on Epstein. Three Republicans joined five Democrats to back the effort, in a sign that Trump’s party was not ready to move on from the issue.
Trump, stung and frustrated by the continued focus on the Epstein story, has sought to divert attention to other topics, including unfounded accusations that former President Barack Obama undermined Trump’s successful 2016 presidential campaign. Obama’s office denounced the allegations as “ridiculous.”
More than two-thirds of Americans believe the Trump administration is hiding information about Epstein’s clients, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted last week. 

KYIV, Ukraine: At a rare protest in central Kyiv demonstrators rallied Wednesday against a law that curbs the power of anti-corruption agencies, warning the fight for Ukraine’s democracy was taking place both on the battlefield and at home.
The legislation, removing the independence of two key anti-corruption bodies, sparked the first major protests in Ukraine since it began fighting off the Russian invasion over three years ago.
“Our struggle takes place on two fronts. Our main enemy is external, but we have an internal battle too,” said protester Viacheslav Bykov.
“We don’t want Ukraine to be part of Russia, we don’t want a corrupt or authoritarian Ukraine. We want a free Ukraine,” he added.
Several thousand demonstrators — mostly young — gathered outside a theater in Kyiv, calling for a veto to the law passed by Ukraine’s parliament on Tuesday.
The law places the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) under the direct authority of the prosecutor general, who is appointed by the president.
Critics say the legislation would facilitate presidential interference in corruption probes and threatens the independence of key institutions in Ukraine.

European Commission weighs in

Zelensky responded to the backlash on Wednesday evening, saying he would submit a new bill ensuring “all norms for the independence of anti-corruption institutions will be in place.”
Kyiv’s partners had reacted with alarm, including European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen, who the EU said demanded explanations from Zelensky over the change.
Civil society groups warn the bill is part of a broader pattern of pressure on anti-corruption activists and bodies.
Some European allies worry the moves will undermine anti-corruption reforms key to Ukraine’s bid to join the European Union — a fear shared by many protesting on Wednesday.
“We’ve worked for years to move closer to Europe... only to be thrown back 10 years in a single day,” said protester Anya Kutsevol.
Ukraine’s two anti-corruption bodies, NABU and SAPO, were born a decade ago in the wake of the 2014 Maidan revolution.
Those pro-European protests, centered on Kyiv’s main square, also called Maidan, ousted a Kremlin-backed leader who scrapped a key partnership agreement with the EU.
The Kremlin, which refused to accept Ukraine’s democratic turn toward Europe, then launched a first assault over Ukraine that led Moscow-backed separatists to occupy Crimea and parts of the eastern Donbas region.
“Ukraine is Europe,” Kutsevol said, “we won’t be returned to Russia. We’ll keep fighting for Europe.”

‘Undermining unity’
Some fear that a political crisis over the legislation could work in Russia’s favor by undermining unity within the country, which is struggling to hold the front.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov seized on the opportunity to say there was “a lot of corruption” in Ukraine.
“If I were Russia, I would do the same,” said another protester, Yevgen Popovychenko, convinced Moscow would try to exploit the protests.
He was holding a banner that read: “Don’t take me back” to the years of Maidan, where he took to the streets as a 21-year-old.
As he stood in the crowd, he said he was having flashbacks from Maidan, a feeling shared by his friends.
But many other protesters were only children during the famed 2014 demonstrations — including 25-year-old Kutsevol.
“When tires were still burning, I was 14. What good was I?” she said.
Wednesday’s was her first political protest, and she teared up looking at people gathered around her for the second day in a row, despite martial law banning large gatherings.
She vowed to keep defending Ukraine’s democracy.
“We’re adults now. Now it’s our turn.”