A video still from the NBC archive showing Donald Trump talking with Jeffrey Epstein at a party in Mar-A-Lago from 1992.
NBC
FBI agents assigned earlier this year to review investigative files in the criminal case against notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were instructed to “flag” any documents that mentioned President Donald Trump, Sen. Richard Durbin said Friday.
Durbin’s claim came as the Illinois Democrat sent the Justice Department and FBI letters asking them to explain what his office called “apparent discrepancies regarding the handling of the Epstein files and findings from a July 7 Department of Justice (DOJ) memorandum and instructions reportedly received by FBI personnel.”
Durbin’s letters, which were addressed to Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino, added to pressure on the Trump administration over Bondi’s decision to withhold from the public evidence about Epstein despite past promises that it would be released.
Durbin is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has oversight over the Justice Department and FBI.
Ranking member Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., arrives for the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Dirksen building on Tuesday, June 17, 2025.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
The senator’s description of instructions given to FBI agents regarding mentions of Trump’s name was made in the letter to Patel.
Trump is a former friend of Epstein, who died from suicide in a Manhattan federal jail in August 2019, weeks after his arrest on child sex trafficking charges.
On Thursday night, The Wall Street Journal reported that a “bawdy” letter bearing Trump’s signature was sent to Epstein in 2003 for this 50th birthday. Trump has angrily denied writing such a letter and said he will sue the Journal.
“According to information my office received, the FBI was pressured to put approximately 1,000 personnel in its Information Management Division (IMD) … on 24-hour shifts to review approximately 100,000 Epstein-related records in order to produce more documents that could then be released on an arbitrarily short deadline,” Durbin wrote to Patel.
“This effort, which reportedly took place from March 14 through the end of March, was haphazardly supplemented by hundreds of FBI New York Field Office personnel, many of whom lacked the expertise to identify statutorily-protected information regarding child victims and child witnesses or properly handle FOIA requests,” the letter said.
“My office was told that these personnel were instructed to ‘flag’ any records in which President Trump was mentioned.”
Durbin then referenced a well-known quote by Trump about Epstein, made to a magazine when they were still friends.
“Notably, in 2002, Mr. Trump said of Mr. Epstein, ‘I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy, He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side,’ ” Durbin wrote.
CNBC has requested comment on Durbin’s letter from the FBI.
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