In early June, as Donald Trump’s relationship with Elon Musk deteriorated, the Republican megadonor targeted the president in a rather provocative way. “Time to drop the really big bomb: [Trump] is in the Epstein files,” Musk wrote online, adding, “Have a nice day, DJT!”

Nearly two months later, the tweet is gone, but the claim is relevant anew. The Wall Street Journal reported:

When Justice Department officials reviewed what Attorney General Pam Bondi called a ‘truckload’ of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein earlier this year, they discovered that Donald Trump’s name appeared multiple times, according to senior administration officials. In May, Bondi and her deputy informed the president at a meeting in the White House that his name was in the Epstein files, the officials said. Many other high-profile figures were also named, Trump was told.

Some caveats are in order. Right off the bat, this reporting hasn’t been independently verified by other news organizations, including MSNBC. What’s more, the fact that the president’s name reportedly appeared in the Epstein files is notable, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that he and others who were included in the materials were involved in wrongdoing.

As Joyce Vance, a former federal prosecutor and an MSNBC legal analyst, explained via Bluesky, “Lots of people’s names end up in an investigative file. It doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve done anything wrong.”

That said, Vance added, what “makes it interesting” is that Trump still won’t agree to release the files — the ones he’s apparently included in — after suggesting the opposite during his 2024 presidential campaign.

What’s more, it was just last week when a reporter asked the president whether Attorney General Pam Bondi told him that his name appeared in the Epstein files. “No, no,” he responded.

Trump acknowledged at that point — I believe for the first time — that he’d received a personal briefing on this case, which was notable in its own right, but the exchange appears even more important now.

Indeed, if the president was briefed on the investigation and told that his name did appear in the files, it would raise new questions about why the Republican felt the need to lie to the public.

What’s more, three days after the president made those on-camera comments, NBC News also reported that Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, relying on information from a protected FBI whistleblower disclosure, alleged that FBI personnel were instructed to “flag” any records that mentioned Trump as part of their handling of the Epstein files.

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Steven Cheung, a White House spokesperson, responded to the new WSJ reporting by saying, “The fact is that the president kicked [Epstein] out of his club for being a creep. This is nothing more than a continuation of the fake news stories concocted by the Democrats and the liberal media.”

Of course, that wasn’t a denial, per se.

For their part, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche also said in a written statement, “The DOJ and FBI reviewed the Epstein Files and reached the conclusion set out in the July 6 memo. Nothing in the files warranted further investigation or prosecution, and we have filed a motion in court to unseal the underlying grand jury transcripts. As part of our routine briefing, we made the president aware of the findings.”

That wasn’t a denial of the underlying reporting, either.

Finally, there’s FBI Director Kash Patel, who used to promote Epstein conspiracy theories before changing direction, who responded to the WSJ with a written statement of his own: “The memo released on July 6th is consistent with the thorough review conducted by the FBI and DOJ. The criminal leakers and Fake News media tries [sic] tirelessly to undermine President Trump with smears and lies, and this story is no different.”

Watch this space.