Overview

• The Wall Street Journal revealed that in May Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy AG Todd Blanche privately informed President Trump that his name appears alongside other prominent figures in Jeffrey Epstein’s nonpublic investigation files.
• Justice Department and FBI statements in early July reaffirmed Epstein’s 2019 death as suicide, denied the existence of any coercive client list and upheld the decision to withhold further records to protect victims and sensitive material.
• White House communications director Steven Cheung labeled the WSJ exposé as fake news and the administration has not publicly confirmed any mention of Trump in the sealed documents.
• On July 17, Trump filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch over a published 2003 letter to Epstein that he says is obscene and untrue.
• The House Oversight subcommittee voted on July 23 to issue a subpoena to the Justice Department for the full Epstein investigation files, marking a new phase in congressional scrutiny of DOJ secrecy practices.