Mark Epstein: Viral 'Bubba' Email Was Not About Bill Clinton — He Expresses Regret Over Confusion

Mark Epstein denies "Bubba" referred to Clinton and apologizes for public confusion

Mark Epstein, the brother of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, said in a Nov. 18 phone interview with NewsNation's Chris Cuomo that a widely circulated 2018 email referencing "Bubba" did not refer to former President Bill Clinton and that he regretted the public reaction to the private exchange.

In the interview, Mark said the line that sparked speculation — "Trump blowing Bubba" — was misread by many who assumed "Bubba" meant President Clinton. "The only thing I responded to, because people got crazy, was the Bubba reference and they tried to pin it on Clinton," he told Cuomo. He added, "I made a public statement that it was not any reference to Bill Clinton. I like Bill Clinton and I'm sorry for him that he has to go through that. But the email had nothing to do with Clinton, and that's my last word on that email."

"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 (earlier statement)

The disputed line appears in a batch of documents released recently by the House Oversight Committee from Jeffrey Epstein's estate. The release included thousands of pages in which former President Donald Trump is mentioned multiple times. In the 2018 exchange, Mark suggested asking Steve Bannon whether "Putin has the photos of Trump blowing Bubba," and added, "You and your boy Donnie can make a remake of the movie Get Hard." While "Bubba" is commonly used as a nickname for Bill Clinton, Mark and his spokesperson, Ali Clark, have insisted the reference was to a private individual and part of a joking correspondence between brothers.

Angel Ureña, a spokesperson for Bill Clinton, pushed back against suggestions of wrongdoing and said the documents show Clinton "did nothing and knew nothing." Ureña posted on X that the records exonerate the former president and that other commentary is "noise."

The release of the documents prompted broader political reactions. On Nov. 14, former President Donald Trump called on the Department of Justice to investigate Clinton and others named in the records. Hours later, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on X that she had assigned U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton of the Southern District of New York to review the matter "with urgency and integrity."

The controversy highlights how private communications can take on new meaning when they surface in large public releases of documents. Mark Epstein says his comments were a private joke between siblings and not intended for public interpretation.