In the Epstein emails Mark Epstein denies that Trump gave a blowjob to Bill clinton. But then who does he say "bubba" refers to?
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Executive summary
Mark Epstein publicly denied that the now-viral line in his 2018 email — “Ask him if Putin has the photos of Trump blowing Bubba” — referred to former President Bill Clinton, saying “Bubba” is a private individual and not a public figure [1] [2]. He described the exchange as a private, humorous back-and-forth between brothers and declined to identify the person or provide further context [3] [1].
1. The line that exploded online and why people jumped to Clinton
A short, jokey exchange from March 2018 between Mark and Jeffrey Epstein — in which Mark wrote about “photos of Trump blowing Bubba” after Jeffrey mentioned being with Steve Bannon — instantly provoked online speculation because “Bubba” is widely known as a nickname for Bill Clinton and Clinton has documented past ties to Epstein-related circles, prompting social-media threads that tied the two together [4] [5] [6].
2. Mark Epstein’s public rebuttal: not Bill Clinton, a private individual
Mark moved quickly to quash that interpretation across outlets, issuing statements saying the email was “a humorous private exchange between two brothers” and explicitly asserting the reference to “Bubba” was not “in any way, a reference to former President Bill Clinton,” with his spokesperson adding that Bubba is “a private individual who is not a public figure” [3] [1] [2].
3. What Mark would and would not say — the limits of his clarification
While Mark and his communications representative insisted the nickname wasn’t about Clinton and rejected alternative viral theories (including that it referred to a horse), both Mark and spokespeople declined to identify who “Bubba” actually is or whether that person knew Trump, leaving the precise identity of “Bubba” unresolved in the public record [7] [1] [2].
4. How reporting and fact-checkers handled the fallout
Fact-checking outlets and multiple news organizations documented Mark’s statement and the pushback against fast-moving speculation: Lead Stories and other media reported the spokesperson’s denial that Bubba referred to Clinton and corrected competing rumors (including the horse theory) after contacting Mark’s team, while mainstream outlets noted the email’s informal tone and the lack of corroborating evidence for the more sensational readings [7] [8] [3].
5. Alternate readings, political context, and what remains unknown
Observers pointed out why the line spread — it dovetailed with longstanding conspiracy-minded narratives about Epstein, Trump and Clinton — yet the public disclosure still contains no independent evidence tying the nickname to Clinton or identifying the private person Mark referenced, so the only confirmed facts in reporting are Mark’s denials, the spokesperson’s claim that “Bubba” is a private, non‑public person, and Mark’s refusal to elaborate [6] [1] [7].