As the furor over the Jeffrey Epstein case shows no sign of easing, Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Justice Department made it official on Friday:
The DOJ asked a court to unseal the grand jury testimony that led to the 2019 indictment of the deceased convicted sex offender and, eventually, his death in a federal prison cell in Manhattan.
The motion cited “extensive public interest” in the case, which is almost an understatement.
READ: DOJ Motion to Unseal Jeffrey Epstein Grand Jury Transcripts pic.twitter.com/rPsZjMaqzA
— Natalie Winters (@nataliegwinters) July 18, 2025
“Public officials, lawmakers, pundits and ordinary citizens remain deeply interested and concerned about the Epstein matter,” Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote near the end of the motion.
“The time for the public to guess what they contain should end.”
Grand jury investigations are conducted in secrecy, and testimony is generally shielded from public view, as The Hill noted. However, they can be unsealed if it’s considered in the public interest.
And given the level of attention the Epstein case is demanding, almost six years after he was found dead of what is officially considered a suicide, President Donald Trump clearly considers that standard to be met. On Thursday night, he announced he was asking Bondi to move to have the testimony unsealed.
Is the Epstein controversy hurting President Donald Trump’s agenda?
The development comes after a Wall Street Journal report alleged that Trump had sent Epstein a letter for Epstein’s 50th birthday that included the drawing of a naked woman with a typewritten passage inside signed with Trump’s first name.
The article bore the headline, “Jeffrey Epstein’s Friends Sent Him Bawdy Letters for a 50th Birthday Album. One Was From Donald Trump.”
Trump has flatly denied writing the letter and said he will sue the newspaper over the story.
Salacious as the letter is, or could be, it’s unlikely to be part of any grand jury materials, The Washington Post noted. That would be limited to testimony directly linked to Epstein’s 2019 indictment.
But whatever is eventually released from the grand jury probe, it’s not going to happen overnight.
The documents will have to be redacted to remove references to innocent witnesses and victims, according to The New York Times.
That’s a process that could take months.”The Department will work with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York to make appropriate redactions of victim-related information and other personal identifying information prior to releasing the transcripts,” Bondi and Blanche’s motion states.
“Transparency in this process will not be at the expense of our obligation under the law to protect victims.”
So, depending on the court’s decision about unsealing the testimony, and the length of time it takes to make the information suitable for public viewing, the administration is either taking the first steps toward closing the seemingly interminable Epstein investigation completely, or at least buying time for it to recede from public view.
In either case, the “extensive public interest” doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
