U.S. President Donald Trump listens throughout a multilateral lunch with African leaders within the State Eating Room of the White Home July 9, 2025 in Washington, DC.
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President Donald Trump, dealing with rising strain to publicly launch Justice Division recordsdata associated to Jeffrey Epstein, stated on Thursday night time that he had requested Lawyer Common Pam Bondi to hunt the unsealing of grand jury testimony associated to the prison prosecution of the infamous pedophile.
Bondi replied in a social media publish, writing, “President Trump — we’re prepared to maneuver the courtroom tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts.”
Trump’s announcement got here hours after The Wall Avenue Journal reported {that a} “bawdy” letter bearing Trump’s signature was included in an album of letters Epstein obtained for his fiftieth birthday in 2003.
The letter was among the many paperwork “examined by Justice Division officers who investigated Epstein” and his convicted procurer, Ghislaine Maxwell, “years in the past,” the newspaper reported.
“Primarily based on the ridiculous quantity of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I’ve requested Lawyer Common Pam Bondi to supply any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, topic to Court docket approval,” Trump wrote in a Reality Social publish.
“This SCAM, perpetuated by the Democrats, ought to finish, proper now!” the president added.
From left, Donald Trump and his girlfriend (and future spouse), former mannequin Melania Knauss, financier (and future convicted intercourse offender) Jeffrey Epstein, and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell pose collectively on the Mar-a-Lago membership in Palm Seashore, Florida on Feb. 12, 2000.
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It’s not clear that the Justice Division will be capable of persuade a federal choose in New York, the place Epstein was investigated, to launch the transcripts that indicted him in 2019 on youngster intercourse trafficking costs.
Grand jury transcripts are, as a rule, stored secret underneath federal prison process guidelines, which give restricted, slim exceptions.
It’s also not clear that if the transcripts are launched that they’ll fulfill critics of Bond’s current resolution to not launch any extra paperwork or proof associated to Epstein. The transcripts would signify only a fraction of the proof assembled by prosecutors and the FBI.
Epstein’s case has spawned conspiracy theories amongst Trump’s MAGA base of supporters.
These supporters have questioned the official discovering that Epstein killed himself whereas in custody in a Manhattan jail in August 2019, a month after being arrested on the fees filed within the Southern District Court docket of New York.
They’ve additionally referred to as for the discharge of what they consider is a “shopper record” maintained by Epstein, presumably to be used to blackmail wealthy and highly effective folks in his orbit. They usually have argued that different folks ought to be delivered to justice for his crimes.
Trump was for years a buddy of Epstein, earlier than the 2 fell out, and the secretive cash supervisor additionally counted folks, together with President Invoice Clinton and Britain’s Prince Andrew, in his social orbit.
Trump has blamed Democrats for the calls for for the Epstein recordsdata to be launched. However a rising variety of Republicans, together with his former vice chairman, Mike Pence, and GOP members of Congress, have stated Bondi ought to launch additional materials.
White Home Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt earlier Thursday stated Trump “wouldn’t advocate a particular prosecutor” be appointed to assessment the dealing with of the prison case in opposition to Epstein, regardless of calls from a few of his main supporters for that concept.
The FBI, in a memo launched by the Justice Division this month, stated {that a} “systematic assessment” of the Epstein case recordsdata revealed no incriminating ‘shopper record.’ “
“There was additionally no credible proof discovered that Epstein blackmailed distinguished people as a part of his actions,” the memo stated. “We didn’t uncover proof that would predicate an investigation in opposition to uncharged third events.”
The memo additionally supported the earlier official ruling that Epstein had killed himself, and included a video with footage confirming that “from the time Epstein was locked in his cell at round 10:40 pm on August 9, 2019, till round 6:30 am the following morning, no one entered any of the tiers within the” particular housing unit of the Manhattan jail.
However Wired journal earlier this week reported that “newly uncovered metadata reveals that just about three minutes of footage have been minimize from what the US Division of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation described as ‘full uncooked’ surveillance video from the one functioning digital camera close to Jeffrey Epstein’s jail cell the night time earlier than he was discovered useless.”