US President Donald Trump has ordered the Attorney General's Office and the Justice Department to investigate possible ties between Democrats and financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was convicted of child sex crimes. Trump announced this on Truth Social.

"When Democrats use the Epstein myth to distract from the disastrous government shutdown and all their other failures, I will ask Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Justice Department, along with our great patriots at the FBI, to investigate Jeffrey Epstein's connections to Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and many other people and institutions," he wrote.

On November 12, Democrats in the US House of Representatives released emails in which convicted sex offender Epstein mentions President Trump, claiming he spent hours at his home with one of his victims. According to CBC, Trump's name appears only about 1,500 times in the newly released documents (which comprise approximately 20,000 pages). But they contain no significant new details about his relationship with the pedophile financier.

The White House called the publication of the letters a political stunt.

Pavel Dubravsky, head of Dubravsky Consulting, told Vedomosti that the Democrats will definitely use Epstein's files against Trump and his party in the elections, but only clear evidence of violations of the law could deal a serious blow to the president's ratings.