U.S. President Donald Trump listens during a multilateral lunch with African leaders in the State Dining Room of the White House July 9, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Win Mcnamee | Getty Images News | Getty Images
President Donald Trump, facing growing pressure to release Justice Department files related to Jeffrey Epstein, said on Thursday night that he had asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to release grand jury testimony related to the criminal prosecution of the notorious pedophile.
Bondi replied in a social media post, writing, “President Trump — we are ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts.”
Trump’s announcement came hours after The Wall Street Journal reported that a “bawdy” letter bearing Trump’s signature was included in an album of letters Epstein received for his 50th birthday in 2003.
The letter was among the documents “examined by Justice Department officials who investigated Epstein” and his convicted procurer, Ghislaine Maxwell, “years ago,” the newspaper reported.
Trump and Bondi for days have resisted calls for the attorney general to reverse her decision not to release any more documents or evidence related to Epstein, whose case has spawned conspiracies among Trump’s MAGA base of supporters.
Those supporters have questioned the official finding that Epstein killed himself while in custody in a Manhattan jail in August 2019, a month after being arrested on federal child sex trafficking charges filed in the Southern District Court of New York.
They also have called for the release of what they believe is a “client list” maintained by Epstein, possibly for use to blackmail rich and powerful people in his orbit.
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