A judge has blocked the grand jury transcripts in the case of paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein from being released.

President Donald Trump last week ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to request the release of the documents, which are a written record of everything that is said during grand jury proceedings.

It followed a report in the Wall Street Journal detailing an embarrassing birthday letter Mr Trump allegedly sent to Epstein in 2003, in which he told his former friend they had “certain things in common”.

The president denied sending the card, which imagined a cryptic conversation between the two men ending with: “A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.”

“Engimas never age,” he wrote elsewhere in the card.