According to Justice Department officials defending transcripts of the typically confidential processes, none of the alleged victims in the case were directly questioned by the federal grand juries that indicted him and his ex-girlfriend on sex trafficking charges. According to the officials, the panel only heard testimony from two witnesses, both of whom were law enforcement officers.
Citing widespread public interest, the officials asked the court once more to make the documents public in a court filing late Tuesday. However, they also tried to reassure the judges that making the records public would not injure the victims of the couple’s crimes.
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Although the memo did not specify the content of the grand jury testimony, it did allay hopes that the transcripts would yield fresh information by stating that some of its topics and details were made public during Maxwell’s trial in 2021 and that other information had been made public through years of victim-filed civil lawsuits.
In response to inquiries from two judges who would need to authorize the transcripts’ release, the Justice Department provided descriptions of the grand jury witnesses. Grand jury transcripts are rarely made public by courts unless they are required to be shared in the course of a legal procedure. According to a 1997 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision cited in the papers filed Tuesday, judges have broad authority and the public interest alone can support the release of grand jury evidence.
The government revealed that throughout its June and July 2019 meetings, the Epstein grand jury received testimony from only one witness, an FBI agent. The filing states that the same FBI agent and a detective from the New York Police Department testified before the Maxwell grand jury in June and July 2020 and March 2021.
Since grand juries have a limited role and are not required to determine a person’s guilt or innocence, it is not uncommon for law enforcement personnel to be the only witnesses before them.
Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche signed the document, which was signed by Jay Clayton, the Southern District of New York’s acting U.S. attorney.
Supporters of Trump want to see the proof.
The Justice Department’s announcement in early July that it would not be making any further investigative files pertaining to Epstein—who was accused of paying young girls for sexual acts—infuriated certain members of President Donald Trump’s base of supporters, prompting the request to unseal the transcripts.
Because officials of his administration had fueled rumors around the well-connected financier and promoted the anticipated release, it was decided not to make more materials public.
in a federal prison in August 2019, shortly after he was arrested on allegations of sex trafficking, but his case has garnered a lot of interest and conspiracy theories due to his and Maxwell’s connections to billionaires, presidents, royals, and billionaires like Trump.
Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking and sentenced to 20 years in jail for allegedly enticing adolescent females to be sexually assaulted by Epstein. According to her lawyer, she spent 1 1/2 days in Florida last week addressing questions from over 100 different persons. According to the deputy attorney general, Maxwell was being questioned because Trump had ordered that any reliable information regarding potential criminals be gathered and made public.
Trump is frequently asked about Epstein.
Trump has stated that he severed his ties with Epstein a long time ago and denied ever knowing about his actions. However, his administration’s accomplishments are overshadowed by persisting challenges. The Republican president sidestepped questions about a potential pardon of Maxwell last week by highlighting the accomplishments of his administration.
Manhattan informed The Associated Press that following the request to unseal grand jury records, the transcripts would be brief and would solely include law enforcement witnesses discussing evidence that links information in the indictments.
Numerous victims whose testimonies of being taken advantage of by Epstein and Maxwell were presented to the grand jury by the FBI agent and the NYPD detective eventually testified at Maxwell’s public trial, according to the court memo released on Tuesday.
Growing demands for more disclosures
Although Maxwell has stated that she will submit a viewpoint to the court, the government stated that neither Epstein nor Maxwell family members have stepped forward to show interest in the request to unseal the grand jury transcripts.
The motion to unseal the transcripts is in line with growing calls for further disclosures in this case, according to the memorandum.
The public’s interest in the misdeeds of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell is unquestionably well-articulated,” it states. In addition, the public is very interested in the work that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice are doing to investigate such offenses.
Epstein entered a guilty plea to state charges of soliciting and procuring a child for prostitution in Florida in 2008 under a nonprosecution agreement. He was able to avoid a potential life sentence by serving 13 months in a work release program as a result. In addition to registering as a sex offender, he had to reimburse victims.
In 2019, federal prosecutors in Manhattan indicted Epstein with almost the same charges.
