We have breaking news out of Florida that is already reverberating through Washington: a federal judge on Wednesday denied the Trump administration’s request to unseal grand jury transcripts from the mid-2000s criminal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. The ruling keeps sealed a crucial set of records from the Florida case, even as the Department of Justice continues to pursue transcripts from later federal investigations into Epstein and his longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell in New York.

The legal petition to unseal the Florida records was filed last week, following weeks of intensifying criticism over the Justice Department’s handling of Epstein-related evidence. Despite earlier pledges of transparency, the DOJ has thus far released little of the promised material. That pressure mounted after Attorney General Pam Bondi — now serving as the nation's top law enforcement officer — released a tranche of documents from the case that were already public. Instead of calming public outcry, the release reignited a media firestorm and breathed new life into conspiracy theories that have long dogged the Epstein saga.

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President Donald Trump is said to be livid. According to Politico, “POTUS is clearly furious,” a person close to the White House said. “It’s the first time I’ve seen them sort of paralyzed.” The comment reflects a rare moment of vulnerability for a president who typically relishes the chaos of the news cycle and rarely loses control of the national conversation.

This was not how Trump’s summer was supposed to unfold. The White House had lined up a series of policy victories to tout: the passage of a megabill in Congress, fresh commitments from NATO allies to increase defense spending, and a string of newly inked trade agreements. Instead, the Epstein controversy has stolen the spotlight — and the president’s team appears increasingly unable to wrest it back.

The frustration, aides say, runs deeper than just the headlines. A senior White House official told Politico that Trump has grown angry with his communications staff’s inability to tamp down the speculation — much of it amplified by online personalities on the far right who once counted themselves among the president’s staunchest defenders.

Those same voices, including Steve Bannon and Laura Loomer, have turned on the administration in recent days, accusing it of mismanaging the Epstein disclosures and warning that the issue could “consume his presidency.” Their criticisms gained traction after The Wall Street Journal published a story alleging that Trump once sent Epstein a lewd birthday greeting — a charge the president has denied and responded to by filing a defamation suit against the paper.

Inside the White House, aides now admit privately that the Epstein story is more than a nuisance; it’s a political liability. For a president who has built his brand on dominance — of the news cycle, his party, and his opponents — the inability to kill this story is both strategically damaging and personally infuriating.

As one ally told Politico, the situation is alarming not just because of what it reveals about Epstein, but because “it’s a vulnerability.” And at a moment when Republicans were preparing to launch their 2026 midterm campaign on the strength of economic and border security wins, Trump’s own narrative is slipping out of his grasp.