The Justice Department said unsealing grand jury transcripts related to Epstein's case is necessary given "longstanding and legitimate" public interest in the case.

Pam Bondi took office as Florida's first female attorney general in 2011. Epstein had gotten out of the County Jail two years earlier.

The president’s directive follows weeks of uproar surrounding the handling of the so-called Epstein files and after Trump announced his plans to sue the Wall Street Journal after the paper published a bombshell report detailing a bawdy birthday card Trump allegedly gave to Jeffrey Epstein.