Justice Dept again asks for Epstein grand jury testimony to be unsealed

Attorney General Pam Bondi signed a motion asking a federal court to unseal grand jury testimony in a case involving the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Photo / Demetrius Freeman, The Washington Post

The Justice Department has asked a federal court in Florida to unseal grand jury testimony related to deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and his confidante Ghislaine Maxwell, the first public action on the matter by the Trump administration since Congress overwhelmingly passed a bill that the President signed, ordering the agency to release all of its nonclassified records on the cases.

Federal courts have previously declined to release the grand jury testimony, citing legal guidelines on the secrecy of such proceedings, and there is no indication a judge would make a different ruling in this case.

In the motion filed late on Friday, the Justice Department sought to suggest the Trump administration is heeding Congress’ demand for the release of Epstein-related material.

“In the light of the Act’s clear mandate, the Court should authorise the Department of Justice to release the grand jury transcripts and lift any preexisting protective orders that would otherwise prevent public disclosure,” said the department’s motion, which was signed by Attorney General Pam Bondi and other officials.

The filing also said the Justice Department would work to ensure that information related to sex-trafficking victims and other personal information was redacted from the material. Noting that Congress had demanded the Epstein investigative documents within 30 days, it added, “the Department of Justice requests an expedited ruling on this motion”.

The recently passed law does not specifically mention grand jury testimony, which is only one part of the Epstein investigative materials. Democratic lawmakers have argued that President Donald Trump could direct the Justice Department to release its Epstein records on his own, needing neither Congress’ urging nor a court’s permission to do so.

The White House and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The volume of grand jury material involved in the Epstein and Maxwell cases is uncertain. Last summer, a New York-based federal judge said that only one witness’ testimony was involved in a case he had overseen – that of an FBI agent, who summarised the case for the grand jurors. There have been other Epstein-related grand juries, including in Florida, and it is not clear how many witnesses they included.

Grand jury proceedings are governed by strict confidentiality rules because they involve individuals who have not been charged and may never be. That often includes not just the primary focus of the investigation but also a variety of people in their orbit. The rules of evidence and testimony are far more relaxed for a grand jury proceeding than in a criminal trial.

The Epstein case has consumed many of Trump’s supporters and allies since before the President was elected to a second term, including such right-wing podcasters and influencers as now-FBI Director Kash Patel, who urged the release of the files. The President and Epstein were friends years ago, but they had a falling-out in the mid-2000s. Prominent Democrats, donors and financial elites were also friendly with the wealthy financier, who had a wide social network at a time when he was trafficking underage girls.

Democrats have increasingly asked whether Trump knew about Epstein’s trafficking of young girls and did nothing about it. Trump has not been accused of any wrongdoing and has denied knowing about the solicitation of underage prostitution before Epstein pleaded guilty to those charges in 2008.

But because high-ranking administration officials promised to get to the bottom of Epstein’s network, they ignited a furore after a memo from the Justice Department and FBI in July declared “that no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted”.

Earlier this month, the Republican-led House Oversight Committee released thousands of pages of documents it obtained from Epstein’s estate, including messages in which the financier said that Trump knew about the sexual abuse of underage girls but did not take part.

Epstein was indicted on sex trafficking charges in 2019 and died by suicide in his cell while awaiting trial.

The next year, a grand jury in New York charged Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime confidante, with offences related to sex trafficking. She was found guilty in 2022 and received a 20-year prison sentence.

In recent months, Maxwell has been moved to a lower-security prison, where news reports have described special privileges she has received. She was interviewed by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, prompting accusations from Democrats that she is receiving lenient treatment in exchange for potentially making statements that exonerate Trump.

The White House has strongly denied such assertions, and Trump has posted that Democrats are playing up the Epstein “hoax” to “try and deflect from their massive failures”.

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