Washington – In a high-stakes political and legal maneuver, Donald J. Trump has instructed the Justice Department to petition a federal court to unseal grand jury testimony connected to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. The move follows renewed public attention over Trump’s past links to Epstein, after the emergence of claims that he once submitted a sexually explicit note for the financier’s birthday album—an allegation he has categorically denied.
The Justice Department, under Attorney General Pam Bondi, confirmed it would file the request Friday morning in the Southern District of New York. Trump, writing on his social media platform Truth Social, framed the move as a strike against what he described as a “coordinated smear campaign” and vowed to expose what he called the “rotting media cartel.” The former president, who remains the dominant force in the Republican field ahead of the 2026 midterms, has also announced legal action against News Corp and its chairman Rupert Murdoch, accusing them of defamation and political sabotage.
The renewed scrutiny has quickly spilled into Washington’s legislative corridors, temporarily halting Republican efforts to pass a sweeping $9 billion rescissions package. That bill, which includes cuts to foreign aid and climate programs, was expected to reach the floor Thursday but stalled after House leadership was blindsided by the media fallout. Trump’s inner circle, meanwhile, rallied behind him. Vice President JD Vance took to X, calling the report “garbage journalism without a shred of proof,” and urged conservatives not to “play along with institutional lies.”
Legal scholars were quick to note that unsealing grand jury testimony is no simple task. Federal rules shield such records with strong protections, especially in cases involving third-party privacy and ongoing appeals. Even if a judge agrees to unseal some documents, redactions are likely and access will be narrow. “This isn’t transparency at the push of a button,” said Lila Renwick, a former federal prosecutor. “Even in politically charged cases, courts are reluctant to crack open sealed archives unless there’s a compelling public interest, and even then, they do it with a scalpel.”
While Trump’s move may appeal to supporters hungry for confrontation with what they view as corrupt media and deep-state institutions, it also deepens his entanglement in a narrative that refuses to disappear. The Epstein case, dormant in recent years, has regained political potency as names, documents, and allegations continue to drip into the public domain.
Maxwell, now serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison, has not responded to the new claims. Epstein’s death in federal custody in 2019 remains a matter of public suspicion, and the sealed files—estimated to include thousands of pages of testimony and attachments—remain one of the most contested troves in American legal history.
In the final paragraph of its Thursday article, The Wall Street Journal claimed that multiple sources had seen a birthday scrapbook assembled by Ghislaine Maxwell for Epstein in 2003, which included a “bawdy” letter allegedly authored by Trump. The letter, according to the report, featured a crude drawing and a typewritten message that ended with the phrase, “Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.” Trump has called the claim “slanderous filth” and has insisted no such letter exists.
This is a developing story.
