BREAKING NEWS Pam Bondi files motion to release secret Epstein grand jury testimony in desperate move to appease Trump
The move came after nearly two full weeks of President Donald Trump 's MAGA base demanded the administration make public all details of the investigation into the disgraced financier and convicted child sex offender.
Trump finally gave into the pressure on Thursday night when he instructed Bondi to make more materials public.
'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,' he wrote on his Truth Social account.
Bondi started that process on Friday by filing with the Southern District of New York to unseal the highly-secretive grand jury court documents in the case.
Although the filing is submitted it doesn't mean the documents are coming anytime soon.
The grand jury information is only a part of the evidence that makes up the so-called Epstein files.
Trump's vow to unseal more information came after the Wall Street Journal published a 50th birthday card it said he allegedly sent to Epstein in 2003.
The president denies he wrote the letter and threatened to sue the publication.
The direction to unseal files came the same day that White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt revealed that Trump had no interest in appointing a special counsel to review the investigation.
In Friday's filing there are no requests to unseal the search warrants, which are also at the center of the case, or any other documents that might yield more substantive details of the investigation.
DOJ insiders tell the Daily Mail that believe that the search warrants are a key to the case and could provide insight into why more evidence was not initially seized and why some evidence Americans are looking for may no longer exist.
Trump's order to Bondi on Thursday suggests that his attorney general was not already authorized to ask the court to unseal the grand jury materials.
If done from the jump, the process could have been in motion months ago rather than just starting.
What it really means is that Americans may have to wait months or even years to get more answers – if they get them at all.
The unsealing of grand jury testimony presents a lot of obstacles and is perhaps one of the more difficult pieces of information to unseal in a case considering stringent secrecy rules that many courts are hesitant to lift.
Trump instructed Thursday, July 17 that Bondi unseal grand jury testimony in the Epstein case
The WSJ reported on Thursday that Trump's alleged birthday card to Epstein in 2003 featured a hand-drawn outline of a naked woman along with a signature 'Donald.'
The typewritten message read: 'Happy Birthday - and may every day be another wonderful secret.'
Trump is threatening a lawsuit against the newspaper and its owner Rupert Murdoch.
'The Wall Street Journal printed a fake letter, supposedly to Epstein. These are not my words, not the way I talk,' Trump posted to Truth Social. 'Also, I don't draw pictures.'
Trump said he told Murdoch the letter was a 'scam,' but that he printed the story anyway.
'I'm going to sue his a** off,' the president wrote.
It appears Trump is now fed up with the continued narrative around Epstein and the untiring demand – even from his base – for more to be released.
Earlier this month, the president repeatedly pleaded with his supporters to stop focusing on what he now calls the 'Jeffrey Epstein hoax.'
He posted on Truth Social multiple times claiming the claims of a 'client list' and other conspiracies surrounding Epstein were made up by Democrats to stoke division in MAGA world.
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