Mark Epstein, the younger brother of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, has issued a detailed public statement to clarify the meaning of a now-viral email that refers to Donald Trump “blowing Bubba,” insisting that the nickname does not refer to former US president Bill Clinton and that the exchange was a private joke that has been misinterpreted since its release in a cache of congressional documents.
The controversy centres on a March 2018 email thread between the two brothers that appears among tens of thousands of images of correspondence released this month by the Republican-led House Oversight Committee as part of its push to obtain and publicise Justice Department materials related to the Epstein investigation. In the email, Mark Epstein wrote to Jeffrey that he was with former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon and suggested his brother should “ask him if Putin has the photos of Trump blowing Bubba.” Jeffrey Epstein replied that he had his own “tsuris” – a Yiddish word for troubles – in a remark that appeared to treat the subject as an off-hand joke rather than a formal allegation.
The wording circulated rapidly online after activists highlighted the line in posts on X, accompanied by images of the email taken from the committee’s public archive of more than 23,000 message images. Because “Bubba” is a long-standing nickname associated with Bill Clinton, who had known Jeffrey Epstein socially and flown on his private jet, many social media users speculated that the email was hinting at compromising material involving the former president and Trump. Some users framed the wording as potential “kompromat,” suggesting the brothers were discussing whether Russian president Vladimir Putin might possess an incriminating photograph.
As speculation gathered pace, Mark Epstein moved to distance his comments from Clinton and from any suggestion that the email was evidence of real events. In a written statement provided to outlets including The Advocate and later shared by journalists online, he said the 2018 email exchange “was simply part of a humorous private exchange between two brothers and was never meant for public release or to be interpreted as serious remarks.” He added: “For the avoidance of doubt, the reference to ‘Bubba’ in this correspondence is not, in any way, a reference to former President Bill Clinton.”
Mark Epstein argued that efforts to connect the nickname to Clinton, or to read wider implications into the short exchange, “misrepresent both the purpose and the tone of the original correspondence.” He said the comments were written in a private, joking context and should not be used to draw conclusions about any of the public figures whose names have been linked to Jeffrey Epstein in the years since his arrest and death in custody.
In a further effort to shut down speculation, Mark Epstein’s spokesperson, Ali Clark of communications firm Sidereal Solutions, told fact-checking outlet Lead Stories and other publications that “Bubba” is “a private individual who is not a public figure.” Clark also rejected an alternative theory that had begun circulating online, which suggested the nickname might refer to a horse allegedly owned by Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former associate who was later convicted of conspiring to sexually abuse minors. “No, I can assure you that is not the case,” she said when asked whether the email was referring to Maxwell’s horse, adding that she had not previously heard the rumour but could state it was incorrect.
Mark Epstein himself has not publicly identified the person behind the nickname, beyond emphasising that the individual is not Clinton and not a public figure. The decision to keep the identity private has left open questions about the precise target of the joke, but the brother has argued that this is beside the point. In comments reported by outlets citing his statement, he said attempts to attach political motives or broader meaning to the reference distract from “the serious questions that remain unanswered” about Epstein’s crimes and the circumstances around the case.
The release of the emails has revived scrutiny of how political and business leaders interacted with Jeffrey Epstein in the years before his 2019 death in a New York jail, which was ruled a suicide. Epstein, a financier who mixed with prominent figures in politics, academia and entertainment, had pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from a minor in Florida and later faced federal sex-trafficking charges in New York involving underage girls. His connections to high-profile individuals, including Trump, Clinton and Britain’s Prince Andrew, have fuelled continuing public interest in documents and testimony associated with the investigations.
The 2018 email mentioning “Bubba” is one of thousands of messages from Epstein’s circle made public as House Republicans press for a vote to compel the Justice Department to release its full Epstein files. The cache includes correspondence dating from around the time Trump was in office, and some of the messages describe the then-president in unflattering terms. One email cited by The Daily Beast reports Epstein calling Trump “dirty” and a “maniac” and suggesting that the future president was aware of his misconduct.
Trump and his allies have rejected any implication that he was complicit in Epstein’s crimes. According to reporting by People, the former president has dismissed the release of documents as a political “hoax” and accused opponents of using the material to distract from other issues. Trump has previously said he banned Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club “a long time ago” and has denied knowing about the financier’s criminal behaviour, despite both men moving in the same social circles in New York and Florida in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Clinton’s representatives have also long maintained that the former president had no knowledge of Epstein’s crimes. Clinton’s office has previously said that he flew on Epstein’s jet a number of times for work related to the Clinton Foundation but ended contact with the financier nearly two decades ago. In the wake of the “Bubba” email controversy, Clinton’s team has not issued a new detailed statement but has reiterated that the former president denies any wrongdoing and that the nickname reference in Mark Epstein’s email is not supported by the wording of the document itself, which contains no mention of Clinton’s name.
Fact-checking organisations reviewing the email have reached similar conclusions about what the document does and does not show. Lead Stories, which verified the authenticity of the email within the House Oversight Committee’s archive, reported that the image of the thread includes the phrase “Trump blowing Bubba” and references to “DONNI TEE” and “your boy Donnie,” but no reference to Clinton. The outlet said that while the email itself is real, any attempt to present it as direct evidence connecting Clinton to the remark goes beyond what can be substantiated from the text.
The initial online reaction, however, was shaped less by the precise language and more by the wider context of Epstein’s relationships. Clinton has for years been a focus of speculation because of his documented flights on Epstein’s jet and appearances in photographs with the financier. Supporters of Trump seized on the resurfaced nickname, arguing that the email proved Epstein was talking about Clinton, while critics of the former president noted that the wording appears in a thread that explicitly mentions Trump and contains no reference to Clinton.
After Mark Epstein’s clarification, the debate on social media shifted in part to new, unverified theories. One widely shared claim suggested that “Bubba” referred to a horse allegedly connected to Maxwell, but this was explicitly denied by Ali Clark, who said in her phone interview with Lead Stories that such an interpretation was “not the case.” Other users posited that “Bubba” could be a generic pet name used in their circle, or an inside joke with no connection to any of the well-known figures linked to the scandal. None of these claims has been substantiated by documentary evidence, and Mark Epstein has declined to elaborate.
The renewed focus on the Epstein brothers’ private exchanges comes at a politically sensitive moment in Washington. House Republican leaders are reported to be preparing a vote that would push for the full release of Justice Department records related to Epstein, arguing that the public has a right to know the identities of any powerful individuals who may have been implicated. Critics of the move have warned that partial leaks and selective publication of correspondence risk spreading misleading insinuations and conspiracy theories without adding much to the factual record about who took part in criminal conduct.
For Mark Epstein, the “Bubba” email has become an example of how a single line from a casual exchange can be magnified once removed from its original context. In his statement, he urged the public not to “read sweeping implications” into the correspondence and stressed that the joke had no bearing on serious questions about accountability for the exploitation and abuse carried out by his brother. While the clarification has ruled out Clinton and Maxwell’s horse as the subject of the nickname, it has not fully resolved curiosity about who “Bubba” is, and the episode underlines how the gradual release of Epstein-related documents continues to generate headlines that blend genuine revelations with speculation and political argument.
As congressional investigators consider whether to demand additional records from the Justice Department, the “Bubba” email illustrates the challenges of interpreting fragments of private correspondence involving figures with long and controversial public histories. For now, the only points on which all sides appear to agree are that the email is real, that it refers to Trump by name, and that the true identity of “Bubba” remains known only to those directly involved in the exchange.