Trump’s name ‘appears in Epstein files,’ president told by DOJ according to bombshell WSJ report: Live updates

President Donald Trump has found himself at the center of a MAGA firestorm over the administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, which the Republican pledged to release on the 2024 campaign trail.

Now, after weeks of unrelenting uproar over the Justice Department’s announcement that there was no evidence Epstein had a “client list,” and no further documents in the sex offender’s case would be released, Trump has instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce select grand jury testimony in the case – which has been denied.

The names in the court documents released last year, which include Trump, former President Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew, were part of a 2015 defamation lawsuit filed by Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, against the sex offender’s madam, Ghislaine Maxwell.

While judges, court staff, and legal representatives have been excluded, here are some of the names that do appear in the legal records connected to Epstein:

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer has issued a subpoena ordering Ghislaine Maxwell, an associate of Jeffrey Epstein, to testify from prison in Florida.

Comer set Maxwell’s deposition date for August 11 as the Trump administration faces mounting criticism over the Epstein files. Maxwell is set to be interviewed at the Federal Correctional Institution Tallahassee, where she is currently serving a 20-year sentence for her role in helping Epstein recruit, groom, and abuse young girls.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche also announced Tuesday he has contacted Maxwell’s attorneys to set up a meeting with her. Comer said the Justice Department is “cooperating and will help facilitate the deposition at the prison.” Some have called for Maxwell to testify to shed light on if any other people were involved with Epstein’s actions.

Katie Hawkinson has the details:

The House of Representatives broke for August recess a day earlier than expected on Wednesday after Speaker Mike Johnson shut the doors to block moves from Democrats seeking to disclose government files on sex-trafficking financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Johnson had a very specific reason to dismiss the House early — a bipartisan discharge petition, which would allow them to force a vote on the release.

“I think it is to sort of try to let the air out of the balloon on the Epstein issue,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who teamed up with California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna on the effort, told The Independent.

But if Johnson and House GOP leadership feared the end result of that discharge petition, the Senate does not want to deal with it at all.

“I hope we don’t waste our time on that,” said Sen. John Cornyn.

Washington Bureau Chief Eric Garcia has more:

South Carolina Representative Nancy Mace, another Republican who supported a committee vote to subpoena the Justice Department to release the so-called Jeffrey Epstein files, claimed that “people deserve transparency.”

“I’ve made it part of my life’s mission to protect women and kids, and I think that I’m ready to take this vote and move forward,” the conservative firebrand told CNN’s Manu Raju, adding: “The victims deserve justice and people deserve transparency.”

Pennsylvania Representative Scott Perry voted with two other Republicans and five Democrats on a House subcommittee to subpoena the Justice Department for files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“I just think it’s important that the American people know what’s occurred,” Perry, of the House Oversight panel, told CNN’s Manu Raju when asked about his vote on Wednesday.

The Justice Department is expected to hold a meeting today with Ghislaine Maxwell, the ex-girlfriend and associate of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.

Maxwell was found guilty in December 2021 of conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, among other charges, related to her role in a scheme to abuse minor girls with Epstein for a decade.

It follows U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announcing Tuesday that he had contacted Maxwell’s attorneys to pursue any potential new leads about the Epstein case.

Donald Trump’s intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard took over the White House briefing room Wednesday to continue pressing her narrative about a “coup” supposedly launched by Barack Obama.

The latest conspiracy has been pressed by both Gabbard and President Donald Trump since the weekend as the administration returns to the “Russiagate” investigation as an apparent diversion while Trump is facing uproar from his base over his administration’s efforts to tamp down on speculation surrounding the death and crimes of Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted pedophile.

In early July, the Department of Justice and FBI declared in a joint statement that no “client list” detailing Epstein’s co-conspirators could be found within the DOJ’s files; the statement also reiterated the agencies’ conclusion that Epstein died by suicide in 2019.

Washington, D.C. Correspondent John Bowden has more:

Federal judges in New York and Florida on Wednesday rejected requests to unseal grand jury transcripts related to investigations into Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein.

Last week, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche asked judges in Florida and New York to release transcripts from grand jury proceedings that resulted in indictments against Epstein and Maxwell, saying, “Transparency to the American public is of the utmost importance to this Administration.”

However, appeals from both the Trump administration and Maxwell were denied Wednesday by two separate judges. The evidence the Trump administration hoped to unseal, however, likely wouldn’t reveal much, according to experts, who say prosecutors try to provide just enough to get charges — not introduce an entire investigation.

Isabel Keane has the story:

Just before the House went on recess, a subcommittee voted to subpoena the DOJ for the files. The motion passed in an eight-to-two vote, with three Republicans breaking from Trump.

Those included representatives Nancy Mace of South Carolina, Brian Jack of Georgia and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania.

The Department of Justice told President Donald Trump that his name appears multiple times in the Jeffrey Epstein files, multiple administration sources told The Wall Street Journal.

The Journal reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi and her deputy, Todd Blanche, told the president during a May meeting at the White House that his name appeared in the Epstein files, after they had sifted through a “truckload” of documents.

Following the Journal’s report, sources familiar with the exchange confirmed the account to both The New York Times and CNN.

Appearing in the files does not necessarily indicate that an individual has committed any wrongdoing, nor has Trump ever been accused of wrongdoing in connection with the Epstein case.