Trump orders Bondi to release Jeffrey Epstein-related grand jury testimony

President Trump late Thursday ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek the release of grand jury testimony related to Jeffrey Epstein — as his administration faces pressure to disclose more details on the late sex offender.

“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,” Mr. Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “This SCAM, perpetuated by the Democrats, should end, right now!”

Bondi wrote in a post on X minutes later, “we are ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts.”

A judge will need to make the final decision on whether material can be released, which could take some time and is unlikely to be immediate.

It’s unclear what material the Trump administration will ask to be released. It’s not clear how much of the Epstein-related material in the government’s possession is grand jury testimony.

Epstein was investigated by federal authorities in Florida in the 2000s, which ended in a non-prosecution agreement and a guilty plea on state prostitution charges, and he was later charged with child sex trafficking in Manhattan in 2019. The government also secured a conviction against Epstein’s co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell. It investigated the circumstances of Epstein’s death in federal custody, which was deemed a suicide.

The order from Mr. Trump comes after the Justice Department and FBI released a memo stating that Epstein did not have an incriminating “client list,” did not try to blackmail any prominent figures, and died by suicide. The memo drew backlash from across the political spectrum, including from some fervent Trump backers, in part because Bondi and other administration figures had promised to release information on Epstein.

The government is generally required to keep grand jury materials secret, and it’s common for not all material that is shown to a grand jury — which meets before a person is criminally indicted — to emerge during a criminal case. 

A request of this kind by the government is unusual, says Mitchell Epner, a partner at the New York law firm Kudman Trachten Aloe Posner, and a former federal prosecutor.

“I’ve been in and around federal criminal cases for over 30 years. I’ve never heard of this before,” he told CBS News. 

While the scope of the government’s request is still unknown, Epner says it could encompass an “enormous quantity of data.” Mr. Trump said the government would seek the release of grand jury testimony, which Epner noted may include exhibits that witnesses testified about before a grand jury.

“I would not bet against there being anything, from the most interesting thing in the world to the least interesting thing in the world, in that material,” said Epner, who told CBS News he believes calls for more information to be disclosed in the Epstein case are warranted.

Epner joked: “If we were to find out the location of the corpse of Jimmy Hoffa, I would not be surprised.”

Material likely will not be released immediately, according to Epner, who said, “weeks would be moving very quickly, months is likely.” Under court rules, grand jury material is typically only released under certain circumstances, often when it’s needed for some other investigation. The government’s grounds for release in this case aren’t clear.

In this case, both associates and alleged victims of Epstein’s may oppose some disclosures. 

“I would not be surprised if a number of people came forward under pseudonyms to object to the release of grand jury material related to them,” Epner said. “I also would not be surprised if some of the victims…came forward and said, ‘Yes, we do want things to be revealed.'”

Trump administration faces Epstein fallout

Last week’s memo on Epstein reignited years of questions — and conspiracy theories — on the disgraced financier, including speculation about the circumstances of Epstein’s death in custody, and about whether the federal government was concealing information to shield some of Epstein’s famous friends. 

Bondi had pledged to release files related to Epstein, and suggested in a Fox News interview in February a “client list” was “sitting on my desk right now to review.” (She later said she meant generally that material on Epstein was sitting on her desk.)

In late February, the Justice Department distributed binders to over a dozen right-wing social media influencers labeled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1,” though the influencers later said many of the materials were already in the public domain.

Some Republicans and vocal Trump supporters were dissatisfied with last week’s memo, in some cases calling for more disclosures or the appointment of a special prosecutor to look into the Epstein case — which White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president does not support.

Mr. Trump, for his part, has scolded some Republicans for buying into what he called the “the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax,” calling them “stupid people” and “weaklings” who are “do[ing] the Democrats work.”

Shortly before pushing for the release of grand jury testimony, the president on Thursday denied a Wall Street Journal report on what the newspaper described as a “bawdy” birthday letter to Epstein — featuring a drawing of a nude woman — that the paper claimed was signed by Mr. Trump in the early 2000s. Mr. Trump and Epstein had crossed paths for years, though Mr. Trump says they had a “falling out.”

Mr. Trump called the letter a “FAKE” and threatened to sue the Journal, as well as its parent company News Corp and leader Rupert Murdoch.

“These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don’t draw pictures,” he said.

CBS News has not independently verified or seen the letter. Dow Jones — the News Corp division that includes the Journal — declined to comment on Mr. Trump’s threats.