Washington: The Trump administration has ordered the Justice Department and FBI to investigate convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s links to prominent Democrats, including former president Bill Clinton, dramatically raising the stakes in the political fallout over Epstein’s crimes.

President Donald Trump said on Friday (Saturday AEDT) that he would ask Attorney-General Pam Bondi to open the probe. Within hours, Bondi confirmed she had directed the US attorney for the Southern District of New York - Trump appointee Jay Clayton - to take the lead and act “with urgency and integrity”.

The Epstein saga returned to centre stage this week after Democrats released three emails from the disgraced financier’s estate that mentioned Trump, and Republicans responded by releasing 20,000 pages

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