Overview

• Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche filed a motion requesting a federal court lift protective orders to unseal grand jury transcripts from the Epstein and Maxwell cases.
• President Trump directed the Justice Department to release all Epstein-related grand jury testimony, stressing that any disclosures would require prior court approval.
• Following a Wall Street Journal report on an alleged 2003 birthday note from Trump to Epstein, the president denied authorship and initiated a defamation lawsuit against the newspaper’s publisher and reporters.
• Key MAGA figures who had pressured for transparency rallied behind Trump after the WSJ story, portraying his lawsuit as a defense against so-called ‘fake news.’
• Democratic lawmakers have dismissed partial releases as insufficient and continue to push for full disclosure of all remaining Justice Department records in the Epstein investigation.