With this week’s disclosures in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal adding fresh fuel to the political fire, Donald Trump took an extraordinary step on Friday morning: The president directed the Justice Department and the FBI to launch a new investigation into the case of the convicted sex offender.

Trump, however, had a narrow set of targets in mind.

Indeed, the Republican said he wanted Attorney General Pam Bondi and federal law enforcement officials to investigate his perceived Democratic foes and critics, including former President Bill Clinton and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, over their alleged ties to the late millionaire pedophile.

Despite the frequency which Trump was referenced in this week’s releases of Epstein emails, the president avoided any reference to himself while demanding a new law enforcement probe.

Four hours later, Bondi did as she was told, announcing via social media that she was tapping a federal prosecutor — U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, a former Wall Street lawyer who chaired the Securities and Exchange Commission during Trump’s first term — to “take the lead” on the matter.

Joyce Vance, a former federal prosecutor and an MSNBC legal analyst, highlighted Bondi’s tweet as evidence of Trump administration officials “corrupting” the Justice Department. As Vance summarized, (1) presidents aren’t supposed to direct attorneys general to open criminal cases, especially under explicitly partisan circumstances; (2) the DOJ doesn’t publicize criminal investigations; and (3) attorneys general definitely don’t assign cases like this by way of social media.

I’ve spent months documenting the degree to which Bondi is allowing Trump and the White House to call the shots at the Justice Department. This is a rather extreme example of the phenomenon.

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Making matters worse, The New York Times reported: “Bondi’s decision to press forward with the investigation is a complete turnaround from a memo issued by the Justice Department and the F.B.I. in July that said that officials had thoroughly scrutinized the Epstein files and found nothing in them that could sustain opening further inquiries into anyone.”

In other words, federal law enforcement officials told the American public months ago that there was no further need for investigations into anyone. Four months later, Trump published a ridiculous rant on his social media platform. And within four hours, his loyalist AG assigned a federal prosecutor to investigate Democrats at the president’s behest.

White House critics have spent much of the year accusing Trump of effectively seizing control over federal law enforcement and calling the shots at the Justice Department. Friday’s developments appear to have removed all doubt.

Trump, for the record, has spent months insisting that he did not know about and had no involvement in Epstein’s operation. This week’s email disclosures include allegations that have not been independently verified by MSNBC.

This post updates our related earlier coverage.