President Trump said Thursday he has directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to release “any and all” relevant grand jury testimony in the case of deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The move is aimed at quelling the rebellion among his supporters demanding the release of more information in the case.
“Based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony subject to Court approval. This SCAM perpetuated by the Democrats should end, right now!” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Mr. Trump’s request falls well short of what many of his critics and his supporters have demanded, which is the release of the full FBI files related to the Epstein case.
In a response on X, Ms. Bondi said the Justice Department was ready to ask a federal court on Friday to unseal the grand jury transcripts.
It is unclear whether the Justice Department can convince a federal judge in New York, where Epstein was investigated, to release the transcripts that resulted in his 2019 indictment on child sex-trafficking charges. Grand jury transcripts are kept secret under the federal rules of criminal procedure. There are some exceptions but they are limited and narrow.
It’s also unclear what information is on the transcripts and whether it would shed any new light on Epstein’s wrongdoing or on any high-profile individuals who may have been involved. The transcripts would only account for a portion of the evidence assembled against Epstein by federal prosecutors and the FBI.
If the transcripts don’t contain any new information, that could ignite an even bigger firestorm among those who have criticized Mr. Trump and Ms. Bondi over the decision not to release any more documents or evidence from the Epstein case.
Mr. Trump’s announcement came hours after The Wall Street Journal reported that a “bawdy’ letter to Epstein bearing Mr. Trump’s signature was included in an album of letters Epstein received for his 50th birthday in 2003.
The letter, which the Journal said Mr. Trump sent at the request of Epstein’s friend Ghislane Maxwell, was written 16 years before Epstein was charged with child sex trafficking. He died in 2019 in an apparent suicide while in a New York City jail awaiting trail on the sex trafficking charges.
The letter to Epstein said, “Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret,” according to the Journal. It featured several lines of text “framed by the outline of a naked woman” and had other suggestive details, the Journal reported.
Mr. Trump said late Thursday in another Truth Social post that he would sue The Wall Street Journal over the article, saying the letter was fake and the story false.
Maxwell was found guilty of sex trafficking and other charges arising from her connection with Epstein, a former lover and business associate.
Mr. Trump’s directive also came as the House Rules Committee advanced a resolution along party lines calling for the release of more information related to the Epstein files, However, the resolution is not legally binding.
Lawmakers were quick to react to the evening developments as Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, Florida Republican, thanked Ms. Bondi for moving quickly to unseal the grand jury transcripts at Mr. Trump’s request.
“While others were busy trying to knife the president, this was quietly in the works behind the scenes. I can say with full confidence— this is the most transparent administration in U.S. history,” Ms. Luna wrote.
She then switched the spotlight onto Democrats and the media.
“Now the real question: Will any reporters finally cover the FBI destruction of Epstein evidence under the former deputy ditrector of the FBI during the Biden admin?” she wrote on social media, using Trumpian all-capital letters.
“Enjoy Phase 3 — it’s going to be the coup d’état,” she wrote, without explai ning what “Phase 3” meant.
Rep. Dan Goldman, New York Democrat, said releasing grand jury transcripts won’t be enough, and called for more to be released.
“Nice try @AGPamBondi. What about videos, photographs and other recordings? What about FBI 302s (witness interviews)? What about texts and emails?” he wrote on social media. “That’s where the evidence about Trump and others will be. Grand jury testimony will only relate to Epstein and Maxwell.”
Rep. Thomas Massie, Kentucky Republican and a vocal critic of the president, called on people to keep up the pressure campaign to get the administration to release the Epstein files.
“Folks, Keep the pressure on, it’s working. But we want all the files,” he wrote on X.
Ms. Bondi last week released a memo detailing her department’s review of the Epstein files.
The two-page document said the Justice Department found no evidence of an Epstein client list and that no additional files from the probe would be made public.
The memo also confirmed that Epstein committed suicide in his New York City jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. MAGA supporters were outraged by the findings after years of pushing theories that Epstein was murdered and/or that prominent Democrats would be named on a client list.
MAGA supporters have long held that Epstein used a “client list” to potentially blackmail rich and powerful people in his orbit.
Mr. Trump was for years friends with Epstein before the two had a falling out. Others in the disgraced financiers’ orbit include former President Bill Clinton and Britain’s Prince Andrew.
Mr. Trump and Ms. Bondi for days have resisted calls for her to reverse her decision not to release any more documents or evidence related to Epstein. The president has lashed out as supporters demanding more transparency as “weaklings” and accusing Democrats of perpetuating Epstein theories, which he’s labeled “a hoax.”
However, a growing number of Republicans and Trump supporters, including former Vice President Mike Pence; Rep. Lauren Boebert, Colorado Republican; and far-right podcaster Laura Loomer have called Ms. Bondi to release additional materials.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said earlier Thursday that Mr. Trump would “not recommend” appointing a special counsel to review the handling of the criminal case against Epstein despite calls for the criminal against Epstein, despite calls from supporters for that idea.
