For nearly 15 years, the two men socialized together in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Fla., before a falling out that preceded Mr. Epstein’s first arrest.

“He told me he has like 15 or 16 hours of videotape of Jeff. He was trying to help Jeff rehabilitate his reputation,” Mark Epstein said of Bannon. He said his meeting and conversation with Bannon took place in New York City after his brother’s death in prison — in either 2019 or 2020.

And speaking of going to court, Trump said Thursday night he will sue Rupert Murdoch and “his third rate newspaper,” the Wall Street Journal, for publishing what Trump says is a “FAKE” letter. The Journal reported that Trump sent the letter to Epstein in 2003 to be included in a commemorative book for Epstein’s 50th birthday.

With backlash from his base not abating, the Justice Dept. asked a federal judge to unseal grand jury transcripts related to Epstein's 2019 indictment.

Here’s what to know about the disturbing facts and unsubstantiated suspicions that make Jeffrey Epstein, a registered sex offender, a politically potent obsession.

Trump was annoyed by the constant questions from reporters—had Bondi told him that his name, in fact, was in the Epstein files? (“No,” came his response)—and frustrated by his inability to redirect the nation’s attention to what he views as his successes,

Since Donald Trump returned to the White House, his Justice Department has promised, reneged, and then promised again to deliver new and potentially explosive evidence on the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged underworld of pedophilia.

The records are at the center of President Trump’s effort to manage fallout from the Epstein case. But unsealing them is complex and requires a judge to sign off.

Attorney General Pam Bondi has filed a formal request to release grand jury testimony related to Jeffrey Epstein. But the president continues to distance himself from the late, disgraced financier.

And nothing suggests a cabal like the news story du jour . The Epstein Files is fast-becoming the JFK of our time, only it’s playing out not in a lone Oliver Stone weekend movie-theater release but in our pockets and on our laptops, on airport cable-news broadcasts and bar-side phone-scrolling, the appeal of drama lapping the need for verification.