Trump Orders Bondi to Unseal Epstein Grand Jury Transcripts After Exposé
'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,' Trump posted. 'This SCAM, perpetuated by the Democrats, should end, right now!'
Bondi, who has been under equal scrutiny regarding the administration's perceived Epstein secrecy, quickly posted a statement to confirm that she would request the unsealing on Friday. It is unclear whether those documents would contain any of the bombshell claims or supposedly secret documents that critics are demanding to see.
'President Trump—we are ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts,' she wrote.
The MAGA faithful may be hesitant to take Bondi at her word, however. She claimed in February that Epstein's so-called 'client list,' rumored to implicate many of the rich and powerful, was sitting on her desk ready for review. She defended herself Tuesday after a DOJ memo last week claimed there was no such list.
'In February, I did an interview on Fox that is getting a lot of attention because I was asked a question about the client list. And my response was, 'It is sitting on my desk to be reviewed,' meaning the files, along with the JFK, MLK files as well. That is what I meant by that,' Bondi said.
Critics expressed concerns that the declassification of grand jury transcripts may not be as groundbreaking as the proposal sounds.
Rep. Daniel Goldman, a Democrat from New York, noted that the testimony will only relate to Epstein and Maxwell. He suggested Trump's call for declassification may make him appear transparent while shielding him from potentially damning information.
'Nice try,' he wrote on X.
California Dem. Rep. Ro Khanna also expressed concern during a House Rules Committee on meeting on Thursday night, where Republicans voted down a Democratic-led measure to advance the release of Epstein documents in place of a non-binding resolution. It's unclear if the measure will make it to a floor vote.
'Here's the problem. The grand jury testimony is largely about Epstein and Maxwell. Not about all the rich and powerful men… those people are still being protected. And by the way the courts usually don't release grand jury testimony."
Meanwhile, Maryland Dem Rep. and ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee Jamie Raskin appeared on CNN's Laura Coates Live, where he said, 'Everybody can see through it, it's slicing the baloney extremely fine.'
He added, 'Grand jury testimony is a tiny fraction of what's in there. We're interested in the emails, the correspondence, the phone calls, the interviews and so on. The grand jury testimony... is a very small part of it.'
'If you look at this fraudulent transparently deceitful, Swiss cheese resolution that the Republicans have put in as a fig leaf cover story on the Rules Committee, which they plan maybe to bring to the floor sometime next week or the following, it's just riddled with all of these loopholes and exceptions just mirroring what it is that Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi are saying.'
The Trump administration has already been accused of playing a game of smoke and mirrors regarding Epstein in recent months. One stunt, as many inside MAGA labeled it, saw a horde of Trump sycophants receive an invite to the Oval Office in February to be gifted a binder titled, 'The Epstein Files: Phase 1.'
The group of MAGA influencers smiled and posed with the binder as they exited their meeting with Trump. They were slammed for parading a cache of details about an accused sex trafficker. Later, Trump and Bondi were also criticized after it became clear that 'Phase 1' of the Epstein files contained no new information about the case.
Trump's order to Bondi was one of seven frantic posts he made in an hour-and-a-half span Thursday night.
The 79-year-old also wrote a screed against what he described as the 'filthy rag' Wall Street Journal and its owner, Rupert Murdoch. His appeal to Bondi followed that rant. He then made a string of posts celebrating his self-described 'wins' as president.
Trump strongly denied ever writing a letter to Epstein, let alone one that included a sketch of a naked woman and a 50th birthday wish, as The Journal alleged he did Thursday.
Trump said bluntly that the report was 'FAKE.' He also alleged that The Journal's decision to publish 'defamatory lies like this' showed its 'desperation to remain relevant.'
Trump said he personally warned the right-leaning paper's editor-in-chief, Emma Tucker, not to publish the Epstein letter. The Journal did anyway, and Trump responded with a promise to sue the storied broadsheet and the 93-year-old Murdoch, who Forbes reports is worth $24.2 billion.
'The Wall Street Journal printed a FAKE letter, supposedly to Epstein,' Trump said. 'These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don't draw pictures. I told Rupert Murdoch it was a Scam, that he shouldn't print this Fake Story. But he did, and now I'm going to sue his a-- off, and that of his third-rate newspaper. Thank you for your attention to this matter!'
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