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US President Donald Trump late Thursday directed the Justice Department to provide “any and all” information about the disgraced sexual offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 awaiting trial on federal charges of trafficking of underage girls.
“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 said in a social media post late Thursday.
Following Trump’s announcement on social media, US Attorney General Pam Bondi responded, saying, “We are ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts.”
Though a court’s consent is normally required for such an action, it is unclear whether Trump is authorising the public publication of these records, or if or when that would occur.
Trump’s order to the Justice Department comes as controversy over his handling of records from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation entered a new dimension Thursday as his administration struggles to make good on its promises to release details on the sex trafficking case involving a one-time friend of the now-president.
It also comes amid a sexually provocative letter that The Wall Street Journal claims held Trump’s name and was used on a 2003 record for Epstein’s 50th birthday.
Trump denied drafting the letter, deeming it “false, malicious, and defamatory”.
The US leader has in recent days been riled up by the case, even berating his MAGA supporters as “weaklings” as many vied for more records from the Epstein probe.
Trump has tried to downplay Epstein case
As his supporters decried the Justice Department’s failure to release much-hyped records in Epstein’s sex trafficking investigation, Trump’s strategy has been to downplay the issue.
On Tuesday, he told reporters, “I don’t understand what the interest or what the fascination is.”
Last week, the Justice Department and the FBI abruptly walked back the notion that there’s an Epstein client list of elites who participated in the wealthy New York financier’s trafficking of underage girls.
Trump quickly defended Attorney General Pam Bondi and chided a reporter for daring to even ask about the documents.
Prosecutor who worked on Epstein probe
Meanwhile, news emerged that the Justice Department fired Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI director James Comey and a federal prosecutor who worked on the cases against Sean “Diddy” Combs and Jeffrey Epstein.
In a note to colleagues on Thursday, Comey wrote, “Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought.”
Maurene’s father, James Comey, was the FBI director when Trump took office in 2017, having been appointed by then-President Barack Obama and serving previously as a senior Justice Department official in President George W. Bush’s administration.
No specific reason has been given for her firing, but when the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, was asked about the possible appointment of a special prosecutor for a full probe into the federal sex trafficking case, she confirmed that Trump does not support such a move.
“The president would not recommend a special prosecutor in the Epstein case, she said.
The political crisis triggered by the Jeffrey Epstein case has been challenging for Trump in what analysts believe to be his own making.
For years, Trump has promoted conspiracy theories and QAnon-influenced propaganda, portraying himself as the sole saviour capable of overthrowing the “deep state.”