Amid public clamor, Trump directed Bondi on July 17 to seek the release of grand jury testimony from federal cases brought against Epstein and his girlfriend, convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. A federal judge in Florida rejected one of the administration’s requests July 23. Two other requests are still pending in Manhattan federal court.

The Vice President has been conspicuously absent from the Jeffrey Epstein drama lately, and one analyst thinks that may be a deliberate move to salvage his political future. Michael Wolff, one of Donald Trump's biographers,