Washington DC - President Donald Trump told law enforcement chiefs Friday to investigate links between Jeffrey Epstein and former President Bill Clinton, as he sought to deflect growing questions about his own ties to the late alleged sex trafficker.

Under mounting pressure from the release of a new trove of Epstein emails, Trump also demanded the Justice Department and FBI probe banking giant JPMorgan Chase and ex-Harvard president Larry Summers, who served as Clinton's treasury secretary.

The 79-year-old Republican accused Democrats of pushing the "Epstein hoax" after emails emerged in which the disgraced financier suggested Trump "knew about the girls" and spent hours with one of the victims at his house.

Trump has denied all wrongdoing, but questions about his long friendship with Epstein have dogged him since his return to the White House in January.

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Epstein died in prison in 2019 – by suicide, authorities have since ruled – before he could face trial on federal sex charges. But questions over his alleged masterminding of a sex ring where powerful men were provided with underage girls have only mounted.

Trump said on Truth Social that he would be "asking" Attorney General Pam Bondi and 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."

"Records show that these men, and many others, spent large portions of their life with Epstein, and on his 'Island.'"

Bondi said that the Justice Department would "pursue this with urgency and integrity" and named senior New York prosecutor Jay Clayton to "take the lead" on Trump's request.