President Trump on Friday said he will direct the Justice Department to investigate Jeffrey Epstein‘s connections to former President Bill Clinton and others.

Why it matters: Trump’s demand comes after House Democrats released a series of emails this week detailing Trump’s connection to Epstein, a convicted sex offender.

• “Now that the Democrats are using the Epstein Hoax, involving Democrats, not Republicans, to try and deflect from their disastrous SHUTDOWN, and all of their other failures, I will be asking A.G. Pam Bondi, and the Department of Justice, together with our great patriots at the FBI, to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement and relationship with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and many other people and institutions, to determine what was going on with them, and him,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
• Clinton, Summers and Hoffman did not immediately respond to Axios’ request for comment.

Driving the news: House Democrats on Wednesday released emails that suggested Trump knew more about Epstein’s conduct than he has acknowledged.

Zoom in: Summers served as Treasury Secretary from 1999 to 2001, and Hoffman co-founded LinkedIn.

Read More: Understand Congress through the lens of the Big 4 elected leaders. With Hans Nichols and the Axios Congress team.