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President Donald Trump on Friday urged the Justice Department and FBI to investigate ties late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had to prominent Democrats, including former President Bill Clinton, as emails released this week raised questions about Trump’s account of his friendship with the disgraced financier.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump claimed that Democrats are promoting the “Epstein Hoax” to “deflect from all of his bad policies and losses, especially the SHAME OF THE SHUTDOWN.”

The president, who has not answered any questions about the issue since lawmakers made the latest emails public Wednesday, made clear that he wants members of his own party to stop talking about Epstein.

“Some weak Republicans have fallen into their clutches because they are soft and stupid. Epstein was a Democrat, and he is the Democrats’ problem, not the Republicans’ problem.” Trump wrote.

“Don’t waste your time on Trump,” the president added, seeking to divert attention to other figures named in the files. “I have a country to govern!”

Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

In a follow-up post, Trump said Attorney General Pam Bondi and the FBI should investigate the “involvement and relationship” Epstein allegedly had with Democratic figures, including Clinton, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and Democratic tech investor and donor Reid Hoffman, “to determine what was going on with them and him.” But that list notably excludes the president himself despite his well-documented friendship with Epstein.

The latest trove of documents raised questions about the president’s own relationship with Epstein.

Trump “knew about the girls,” Epstein wrote in one of three emails released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.

In another message, from 2011, Epstein told his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell that Trump is the “dog that hasn’t barked” because he had spent time with someone whose name is written as “VICTIM.”

“I want you to realize that the dog that hasn’t barked is Trump,” Epstein wrote. “[VICTIM] “I spent hours at my house with him, they’ve never mentioned it.”

The White House has dismissed the exchanges as meaningless.

However, this week’s release presented a new headache for the White House as it tries to recover from last week’s poor election results and the negative effects of the recent government shutdown on ordinary Americans.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced that the chamber will vote on whether to release the full Epstein files next week after Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.) became the final 218th signatory on the “discharge petition” following her swearing-in ceremony, setting up the showdown that Trump had actively sought to avoid.

Senior administration officials summoned Rep. Lauren Boebert (Colorado), a staunch ally and one of three Republican women who signed the petition, to a Situation Room meeting with Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel to discuss her support for releasing the files, a day after the president contacted her directly, according to The New York Times.

Trump also attempted to contact Rep. Nancy Mace (R.S.C.), who also supported the petition, but was unable to reach her. Mace later sent Trump a message explaining why he wouldn’t change his mind by signing the petition, the Times said.