Justice Department asks court to unseal Epstein grand jury records to contain firestorm

[BumRushDaShow]

Last edited Fri Jul 18, 2025, 06:32 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: AP

Updated 6:21 PM EDT, July 18, 2025


WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department asked a federal court on Friday to unseal grand jury transcripts in Jeffrey Epstein’s case at the direction of President Donald Trump amid a firestorm over the administration’s handling of records related to the wealthy financier.

The move — coming a day after a Wall Street Journal story put a spotlight on Trump’s relationship with Epstein — seeks to contain a growing controversy that has engulfed the administration since it announced that it would not be releasing more government files from Epstein’s sex trafficking case.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche filed motions urging the court to unseal the Epstein transcripts as well as those in the case against British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein. Epstein killed himself in 2019 shortly after his arrest while awaiting trial.

The Justice Department’s announcement that it would not be making public any more Epstein files enraged parts of Trump’s base in part because members of his own administration had hyped the expected release and stoked conspiracies around the well-connected financier.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/trump-jeffrey-epstein-grand-jury-justice-department-ece8a837f9bd179771f801a765e242e4

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Just breaking.

Article updated.

Original article/headline -

Justice Department asks court to unseal Jeffrey Epstein grand jury records

Updated 5:35 PM EDT, July 18, 2025


WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department asked a federal court on Friday to unseal grand jury transcripts in Jeffrey Epstein’s case amid a firestorm over the Trump administration’s handling of records related to the wealthy financier.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche filed a motion urging the court to release the transcripts a day after President Donald Trump directed the Justice Department to do so.

The Trump administration has been embroiled in controversy since the Justice Department last week announced that it would not be releasing any more evidence in its possession from Epstein’s investigation.

Trump’s demand to release the grand jury transcripts came after The Wall Street Journal reported on a sexually suggestive letter that the newspaper says bore Trump’s name and was included in a 2003 album for Epstein’s 50th birthday.

[BOSSHOG]

1. Damn

They made the request on Friday afternoon. None of us will remember this action come bedtime Sunday. Like the Senate taking votes at 2 in the morning. Brilliant strategy.

[walkingman]

2. No bueno....release it all. Stop the coverup.

[InstantGratification]

3. The grand jury records are just a fraction of the evidence

These documents will very likely be limited in scope. Remember, only Epstein and Maxwell were indicted, the grand jury proceedings probably don't have much of anything that wasn't directly needed for those two cases. There has to be other evidence out there, Epstein and Maxwell were trafficking those girls to someone but that probably won't be in the grand jury record. This is just another attempt to get the MAGA bloodhounds off his scent.

[lostincalifornia]

4. Exactly, release everything, including the DOJ unredacted files. They won't of course, thinking they can

con the public, and they are probably right.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. Justice Dept. asks court to release Epstein grand jury testimony

This is a stunt which would not include the vast majority of the file on Epstein. First, it is highly unlikely that the court will release these files given the appeal by Maxwell. The material in these transcripts are a very tiny part of the material in the FBI/DOJ possession.

This is a stunt to try to take pressure off trump.

Link to tweet

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/07/18/bondi-epstein-files-documents-grand-jury-testimony-doj/

The Justice Department on Friday asked a federal court to release grand jury transcripts connected to deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein, responding to a growing political outcry over the agency’s unfulfilled promise to release more details on the government’s investigation of his alleged sex-trafficking of minors......

A judge would have to agree to release them, a process that could take weeks or months. Even then, their disclosure is by no means certain. Grand jury records are shielded by secrecy rules to protect crime victims, witnesses and the accused, and are made public only under limited circumstances......

The sealed transcripts would constitute only a fraction of the evidence and investigative material that the FBI amassed during its years-long investigation. The transcripts are unlikely to fully satisfy Trump’s right-wing base, which continues to call for full transparency surrounding the investigation.

“It is generally a very, very small portion of any investigative file,” said Christopher O’Leary, who spent more than two decades as an FBI counterterrorism agent.

The full extent of what remains under wraps is unclear. Thousands of pages of documents related to the Epstein investigation have already been released through lawsuits, court filings, public records requests and the Justice Department’s prosecution of Maxwell......

As recently as last year, the younger Comey had sought in court to keep records pertaining to some aspects of the Epstein investigation under wraps in a suit brought by the gossip website Radar Online seeking FBI records. Comey pushed against making those documents public in a January 2024 court filing, saying it could interfere with Maxwell’s ongoing appeal of her conviction and subject victims and witnesses to “embarrassment and potential harassment.”

[LetMyPeopleVote]

6. No one asked for the Grand Jury transcripts

[PufPuf23]

7. See no scenario where full release of Epstein materials can be trusted

especially with Trump at the helm and his toadies in charge.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

8. Deadline: Legal Blog--Judges deem Trump motions to unseal Epstein, Maxwell grand jury transcripts inadequate

There are statutory requirements for release of grand jury material. The trump motion did NOT pretend to address these requirements or meet requirements such as notifying the victims. The motion filed was so deficient that it has to be refiled

But the judges gave the Trump DOJ the chance to do better by July 29. Maxwell, an Epstein representative and the victims can weigh in, too.

Judges deem Trump motions to unseal Epstein and Maxwell grand jury transcripts inadequate share.google/zSxZZcvYbSRb...

— SherryRN @pissedoffnurse (@sherryll.bsky.social) 2025-07-23T18:31:37.090Z

https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/epstein-grand-jury-transcripts-maxwell-trump-motions-judges-rcna220298

Two federal judges sent a message to the Trump administration about its attempt to unseal grand jury transcripts related to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell: Try again.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche had filed unsealing motions on both the Epstein and Maxwell dockets amid the political backlash President Donald Trump has faced for his administration’s refusal to make public all Epstein-related materials as promised......

The orders sending Blanche back to the drawing board on Tuesday came from U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer, an Obama appointee who’s presiding over the Maxwell docket, and U.S. District Judge Richard Berman, a Clinton appointee who’s handling the Epstein docket. Both judges are in the Southern District of New York, where Maxwell and Epstein were charged. The orders are similarly worded; you can read the Maxwell one here and the Epstein one here.

Both orders say that the judges intend to resolve the unsealing motions “expeditiously” but that Blanche’s filings were inadequate. The judges gave the DOJ a week, until July 29, to file a more detailed memorandum making the case for unsealing.

Among other things, the judges said the DOJ has to say in the memorandum whether it reviewed the grand jury transcripts in question before making the requests and whether victims were notified.

Both judges were pissed at the crappy job done by the DOJ. Here are links to the two orders
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612.789.0.pdf
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.518649/gov.uscourts.nysd.518649.63.0.pdf