he ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi<\/a> to seek the release of documents related to Epstein’s secretive grand jury testimony. <\/p>\nThe justice department formally made the request to a judge in New York, arguing the materials related to the case – where he was charged with trafficking dozens of girls as young as 14 – “qualify as a matter of public interest”.<\/p>\n
The department is also asking for disclosures in the case of his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in the child sex trafficking conspiracy.<\/p>\n
A grand jury – a panel of people who vet whether there is enough evidence to charge a person with a crime – can hear from confidential informants and those whose identities are protected for their safety. Materials in a grand jury are typically kept secret under the law, but a judge can unseal documents if they decide public interest outweighs the need for such legal protections in a case. <\/p>\n
Either way, it’s unclear when or if documents will be released, or if they contain many of the details Trump’s supporters have been demanding.<\/p>\n
Also on Friday, Trump filed a $10bn (\u00a37.5bn) lawsuit in Miami against Dow Jones, News Corp and conservative media tycoon Rupert Murdoch.<\/p>\n
He claims the Wall Street Journal slandered him and violated libel laws in an article alleging that a “bawdy” birthday greeting bearing Trump’s name was sent to Epstein in 2003, before the late financier was charged with sex crimes.<\/p>\n
“We have just filed a powerhouse Lawsuit against everyone involved in publishing the false, malicious, defamatory, fake news ‘article’ in the useless ‘rag’ that is, The Wall Street Journal,” Trump said on social media.<\/p>\n
“I hope Rupert and his ‘friends’ are looking forward to the many hours of depositions and testimonies they will have to provide in this case,” he added.<\/p>\n
He said the newspaper and Murdoch – with whom Trump has had an up-and-down relationship for decades – were warned they would be sued if they printed the article. <\/p>\n
Murdoch, who was seen on Sunday attending the Fifa World Cup with Trump, founded a media empire which is credited by some with helping propel the president to the White House.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/static.files.bbci.co.uk\/bbcdotcom\/web\/20250711-084946-a521911844-web-2.25.0-9\/grey-placeholder.png\")
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Getty Images<\/p>\n
Trump and Murdoch appeared together in the Oval Office in February 2025<\/p>\n
According to the Journal, a letter bearing Trump’s name “contained several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker”.<\/p>\n
“Inside the outline of the naked woman was a typewritten note styled as an imaginary conversation between Trump and Epstein, written in the third person,” the paper reported.<\/p>\n
It reportedly contains a joking reference that “Enigmas never age” and allegedly ends with the words: “A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday \u2013 and may every day be another wonderful secret.”<\/p>\n
Trump denied writing the note after the article was published on Thursday, posting: “These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don’t draw pictures.”<\/p>\n
Watch: How are Americans reacting to Trump’s handling of the Epstein files?<\/p>\n
The developments on Friday came amid a turbulent week for the president as some of his most loyal supporters demanded more transparency and public disclosure in the Epstein case. <\/p>\n
Some Trump loyalists have even called for Attorney General Bondi to resign after she reversed course on releasing certain documents related to Epstein. <\/p>\n
Chad Bianco, a Republican sheriff running for California governor, told BBC News that Trump’s handling of the Epstein files was “not what I was expecting” and that “millions” of his followers are disappointed. <\/p>\n
“We feel like we’re being talked down to like stupid children.”<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, members of Congress are pushing to pass a “discharge petition” that would force Bondi to release a broad range of materials that the justice department has related to Epstein.<\/p>\n
The effort has brought together some of Congress’s fiercest opponents, including Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene and Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who are both signed on as supporters. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Images The US justice department has asked a judge to unseal material related to sex offender Jeffrey…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-6979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Getty Images<\/p>\n