Trump seeks release of grand jury transcripts as Epstein uproar widens
The case of deceased high-profile sex offender Epstein has dominated news recently after the Trump administration reversed course last week on its pledge to release documents it had suggested contained damning revelations about Epstein and his alleged elite clientele.
That reversal enraged many of Trump's most loyal followers and prompted allegations that his administration is covering up lurid details of Epstein's crimes to protect rich and powerful figures.
Trump himself had been associated with Epstein and once called him a friend.
'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!' Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform late on Thursday.
Shortly after Trump's statement, Attorney General Bondi said on social media that the Justice Department was ready to ask the court on Friday to unseal the grand jury transcripts.
'President Trump – we are ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts,' Bondi wrote.
The latest development comes just hours after Trump threatened to sue The Wall Street Journal after it published a story about an alleged risque letter he wrote to Epstein that featured a drawing of a naked woman. The WSJ story, which quickly reverberated around the US capital, says the note to Epstein bearing Trump's signature was part of a collection assembled for Epstein's 50th birthday in 2003.
The newspaper said it reviewed the letter but did not print an image.
'The Editor of The Wall Street Journal… was told directly by [White House Press Secretary] Karoline Leavitt, and by President Trump, that the letter was a FAKE,' Trump wrote on his social media platform.
'Instead, they are going with a false, malicious, and defamatory story anyway,' he said.
'President Trump will be suing The Wall Street Journal, NewsCorp, and Mr. [Rupert] Murdoch, shortly. The Press has to learn to be truthful, and not rely on sources that probably don't even exist,' he added.
The alleged letter, which Trump denies writing, involves several lines of typewritten text, contained in an outline of a naked woman drawn with a marker.
'The future president's signature is a squiggly 'Donald' below her waist, mimicking pubic hair,' the Journal reported.
'The letter concludes: 'Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.''
Trump told the WSJ: 'This is not me. This is a fake thing.'
'I don't draw pictures of women,' he said. 'It's not my language. It's not my words.'
Epstein took his own life in a New York prison in 2019 – during Trump's first term – after being charged with sex trafficking in a scheme where he allegedly groomed young and underage women for sexual abuse by the rich and powerful.
The Trump-supporting far-right has long latched onto the scandal, claiming the existence of a still-secret list of Epstein's powerful clients and that the late financier was, in fact, murdered in his cell as part of a cover-up.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Jazeera
17 minutes ago
- Al Jazeera
US Justice Department to discuss Epstein with Ghislaine Maxwell
Officials from the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) are set to interview sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell in Florida, as pressure continues to mount on the administration of US President Donald Trump over the handling of the files of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Former British socialite Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking minors on behalf of Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial in his own paedophile trafficking case. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche – Trump's former personal lawyer for his hush money trial and two federal criminal cases – was to interview Maxwell on Thursday at a federal courthouse in Tallahassee, Florida, multiple US media outlets reported. In a social media post on Tuesday, Blanche said that Trump 'has told us to release all credible evidence' and that if Maxwell has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the DOJ 'will hear what she has to say.' A DOJ spokesman did not immediately return a message from The Associated Press seeking comment on Thursday. The person who confirmed the meeting to The Associated Press insisted on anonymity to describe a closed-door encounter. Maxwell, the daughter of the late British press baron Robert Maxwell, is the only former Epstein associate who was convicted in connection with his activities, which conspiracy theorists allege included trafficking young models for VIPs. Joyce Vance, an ex-federal prosecutor who now teaches law at the University of Alabama, said any ''new' testimony [Maxwell] offers is inherently unreliable unless backed by evidence.' 'Trump could give Ghislaine Maxwell a pardon on his last day in office, in exchange for favourable testimony now,' Vance said in a post on X. 'She knows he's her only chance for release.' 'Client list' The meeting with Maxwell marks another attempt by the Trump administration to defuse anger among the Republican president's own supporters over what they have long seen as a cover-up of sex crimes by Epstein, a wealthy financier with high-level connections. On July 7, the DOJ and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued a memo saying that a review of Epstein's case yielded no new evidence, including no 'client list'. But that finding caused an uproar among Trump's Make America Great Again (MAGA) base, which noted that US Attorney General Pam Bondi herself had referred to a client list 'sitting on my desk right now' earlier this year. Members of Trump's base have long embraced conspiracy theories about rings of sex offenders in the highest levels of government, and some have questioned the circumstances surrounding Epstein's death, speculating that it was an orchestrated cover-up. On Wednesday, the House Oversight Committee subpoenaed Maxwell to appear before Congress next month, noting in a statement that 'the facts and circumstances surrounding both your and Mr Epstein's cases have received immense public interest and scrutiny'. The committee's Republican chair, US Representative James Comer, noted in his statement that while the DOJ was moving forward with its interview, 'It is imperative that Congress conduct oversight of the federal government's enforcement of sex trafficking laws generally and specifically its handling of the investigation and prosecution of you and Mr Epstein.' Democrats have also pushed for the release of the Epstein files, and on Wednesday, a Republican-led panel pushed forward a Democrat-led subcommittee subpoena demanding that the DOJ release the Epstein files. In an interview with political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen, US Representative Jasmine Crockett, a Democrat, said she would trust Congress to interview Maxwell more than the DOJ, noting the potential for 'them sanitising the information that we get, or potentially engaging in some type of threats, or potentially offering a pardon if certain things were said or not said'.
Al Jazeera
2 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
What's in the $200m deal Trump has struck with Columbia University?
New York City-based Columbia University has agreed to pay $221m to settle claims by US President Donald Trump's administration that it failed to curb anti-Semitism on campus, in exchange for the reinstatement of billions of dollars in federal funding. The deal, agreed on Wednesday, comes after sweeping university campus protests against Israel's war in Gaza during the spring and summer of 2024 and this year were criticised as veering into anti-Semitism. In February, the government cut $400m in federal research funding for Columbia in a bid to force its administrators to respond to alleged harassment of Jewish students and faculty. The unprecedented agreement marks a victory in Trump's efforts to exert greater control over higher education, including campus activism, and could offer a framework for future deals with other universities. What's in the deal Trump has struck with Columbia? Columbia has agreed to pay $200m to the government over three years, as well as making a separate $21m payment to settle claims by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In exchange, the 'vast majority' of the frozen $400m in federal funding will be reinstated, the university said. Columbia will also regain access to billions of dollars' worth of current and future grants under the deal. Columbia is required, within 30 days, to appoint an administrator who will report to the university president and will be responsible for overseeing the deal's compliance. This includes verifying that the institution ends programmes that promote 'unlawful efforts to achieve race-based outcomes, quotas [and] diversity targets'. Additionally, Columbia must review its Middle East curriculum to make sure it is 'comprehensive and balanced' and appoint new faculty staff to its Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies. Columbia said the agreement establishes Bart Schwartz, of the compliance firm Guidepost Solutions, as an independent monitor who will report to the government on its progress every six months. The university will be expected to compile a report for the monitor to ensure its programmes 'do not promote unlawful DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] goals'. Why have they come to this agreement? Columbia said the agreement formalises already-announced reforms to address harassment of Jewish students and staff, including the hiring of additional public safety personnel, changes to disciplinary processes, and efforts to foster 'an inclusive and respectful learning environment'. The dispute between Columbia and the Trump administration began after Jewish students and faculty complained of harassment on campus by pro-Palestine demonstrators, while pro-Palestinian advocates accused critics of often wrongly conflating opposition to Israel with the hatred of Jews. Columbia's acting president, Claire Shipman, said the agreement marked 'an important step forward after a period of sustained federal scrutiny and institutional uncertainty'. 'The settlement was carefully crafted to protect the values that define us and allow our essential research partnership with the federal government to get back on track. Importantly, it safeguards our independence, a critical condition for academic excellence and scholarly exploration, work that is vital to the public interest,' she added. Trump hailed the settlement as 'historic' in a post on his Truth Social platform. 'Numerous other Higher Education Institutions that have hurt so many, and been so unfair and unjust, and have wrongly spent federal money, much of it from our government, are upcoming,' he wrote. How have students and activists reacted? Student activist group Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) slammed the settlement as 'a bribe'. 'Imagine selling your students out just so you can pay Trump $221 million dollars and keep funding genocide,' the group wrote on X. It added that Columbia's disciplinary action against students, including suspensions and expulsions, this week was a punishment that 'hugely' exceeded the precedent for non-Palestine-related demonstrations. Non-governmental organisation Palestine Legal accused Columbia of 'weaponising claims of antisemitism to punish those calling for freedom for Palestinians'. 'It is clear that Columbia's desire to create a community 'where all feel welcome' doesn't extend to students who call for an end to Israel's genocide,' the group posted on X. Hasan Piker, a left-wing activist, political commentator and a critic of Trump, said the US president was 'underwater on everything and Columbia is still caving to Trump on everything', adding 'it seems like some of these institutions were looking for the pretext to go right'. What steps has Columbia already taken to pacify the Trump administration? In March, Columbia agreed to a list of demands laid down by Trump in return for negotiations to reinstate its $400m federal funding, which he had revoked a month before, citing 'a failure to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment'. Among other concessions, the university agreed to ban face mask coverings during protests, as well as to install 36 campus police officers with special powers to arrest students. Earlier this month, Columbia adopted a controversial definition of anti-Semitism drafted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which has been criticised for what some say is conflating criticism of the state of Israel and Zionism with anti-Semitism. Critics have warned that the definition could be used to stifle dissent and curb academic freedom. In a letter sent to the United Nations in 2023, 60 human and civil rights organisations said the definition should not be used. 'The IHRA definition has often been used to wrongly label criticism of Israel as antisemitic, and thus chill and sometimes suppress, non-violent protest, activism and speech critical of Israel and/or Zionism, including in the US and Europe,' they wrote. On Tuesday, Columbia also announced it would suspend, expel or revoke degrees for nearly 80 students who participated in a Butler Library demonstration on its campus on May 7, 2025 and a 'Revolt for Rafah' encampment on May 31, 2024 during the university's annual alumni weekend. During protests, students demanded that the university's $14.8bn endowment stop investing in weapons makers and other companies that support Israel. Protest organiser and former student Mahmoud Khalil, 29, was the first person to be detained during the Trump administration's push to deport pro-Palestinian activists who are not US citizens. The school also said it would no longer engage with pro-Palestinian group CUAD. Which other universities has Trump set his sights on, and why? The Trump administration is focusing attention on 10 universities that it deems noteworthy in its campaign to root out anti-Semitism. These are Columbia; George Washington University; Harvard; Johns Hopkins University; New York University; Northwestern; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of Minnesota; and the University of Southern California. Columbia University was the first college to see its funding slashed, but several Ivy League schools have been subjected to or threatened with funding cuts since Trump took office in January 2024. More than $2bn in total was frozen for Cornell, Northwestern, Brown and Princeton universities. In April, the administration also threatened to freeze $510m in grants to Brown University over alleged violations 'relating to antisemitic harassment and discrimination'. Harvard University was the first – and has so far been the only – major higher education institution to defy Trump's demands and fight back in federal court. This week, it argued in federal court that the Trump administration had illegally cut $2.6bn in funding in what were politically motivated attempts to reshape the institution. Are deals with other universities expected as well? Some universities are also believed to be in talks with the Trump administration, so more deals could be forthcoming. In particular, US news outlets have reported that officials from the Trump administration and Harvard are continuing negotiations, despite the court case brought by Harvard. In June, Trump posted on social media that 'if a Settlement is made on the basis that is currently being discussed, it will be 'mindbogglingly' HISTORIC, and very good for our Country'.
Al Jazeera
6 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Cyber kidnapping scams target Chinese international students
101 East investigates cyber kidnappings – a growing online scam targeting Chinese international students. A disturbing 'cyber kidnapping' scam is targeting Chinese students around the world, forcing them to fake their own abductions for ransom. In December 2023, 17-year-old Chinese student Kai Zhuang disappeared in the United States. His family received ransom demands and a photo of him in distress. Days later, he was found hiding in Utah's mountains. Four months earlier, a 22-year-old female student was reported missing in Australia, with her family receiving photos of her bound and bloodied. She was found unharmed within 24 hours. 101 East investigates how cyber criminals use sophisticated methods to coerce Chinese international students into staging kidnappings.
