NEW YORK: The Trump administration on Tuesday night urged two federal judges to unseal grand jury testimony from the sex trafficking cases involving the late financier Jeffrey Epstein and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, as pressure mounts over its handling of the matter.
According to court documents, the Justice Department initially requested permission on July 18 to release confidential witness transcripts from the grand juries that indicted both Epstein and Maxwell. However, US District Judges Richard Berman and Paul Engelmayer, based in Manhattan, sought a more thorough explanation of the legal grounds for the request.
In two filings submitted just before midnight, federal prosecutors argued that the material should be made public given the “abundant public interest” in the Epstein case and the sustained scrutiny surrounding federal law enforcement’s management of the investigation.
The Epstein case has been at the center of conspiracy theories for years. Trump has faced pressure in recent months to make public documents from the federal investigations into Epstein and Maxwell.
Epstein hanged himself in jail in 2019, an autopsy concluded, while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges brought by federal prosecutors. He had pleaded not guilty. Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime girlfriend, was convicted in 2021 on sex trafficking charges and is serving a 20-year prison sentence in Florida. Maxwell had pleaded not guilty and is now asking the US Supreme Court to overturn her conviction.
Trump said this month he had asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek the release of grand jury transcripts in the two cases. The president did so after the Justice Department said it concluded that Epstein died by suicide and that there was no incriminating list of his clients.
The Justice Department’s announcement angered some of Trump’s conservative supporters who believe the government is covering up Epstein’s ties to the rich and powerful and that the financier was murdered in jail.
Grand juries are convened by prosecutors and meet in secret to hear witness testimony and decide whether to indict people suspected of crimes. Records of their proceedings usually remain sealed. There are only limited circumstances under which such transcripts can be disclosed.
Even if one or both of the judges allow the transcripts to be made public, it is not clear whether the public would learn anything new or noteworthy. Maxwell’s four-week trial in 2021 included public testimony from alleged sex trafficking victims, associates of Epstein and Maxwell, and law enforcement officers.
The transcripts also would not represent all the previously unreleased material in the government’s possession. Investigators and prosecutors may pursue leads that they cannot substantiate or interview potential witnesses whom they do not ultimately call to testify before a grand jury.
US District Judge Robin Rosenberg in Florida on July 23 denied the administration’s request to unseal records from grand jury investigations in 2005 and 2007 in that state into Epstein. The judge found that the request did not fall into any of the limited exceptions that may allow for the release of such material.
Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to a prostitution charge brought under Florida law and was given a 13-month sentence in a deal with prosecutors now widely regarded as too lenient.
Deputy US Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal lawyer, last week met with Maxwell for two days to see if she had any information about others who had committed crimes. Maxwell’s lawyer David Markus and Blanche have not provided detailed accounts of their discussions.
