Legal pathway clearly exists for Trump's request to make Epstein grand jury testimony public
"Based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval," President Trump wrote on Truth Social in a post the attorney general shared on X Thursday night. "This SCAM, perpetuated by the Democrats, should end, right now!"
Bondi added that her office would be ready to file a motion by Friday asking a federal judge to unseal the grand jury transcripts in connection with Epstein's case.
He was indicted in 2019 on sex trafficking charges and died in custody before trial. His only convicted co-conspirator is his former lover, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is appealing her case and 20-year sentence. But questions have swirled for years about who else, if anyone, was involved in the trafficking. Other rich and powerful men have been accused in civil lawsuits, some of which were settled out of court.
While Florida passed a new law specifically to unseal Epstein's grand jury transcript from a state-level trafficking case in the early 2000s, such materials are usually kept secret without a court order.
"Grand jury transcripts are usually secret, but they can be unsealed by a judge upon a showing of compelling need," said Neama Rahmani, a Los Angeles trial attorney and former federal prosecutor. "The requesting party, in this case Bondi, has to show the need for disclosure outweighs the need for continued secrecy."
From there it's a judgment call for the courts, he said.
"In this case, Epstein is dead, so the court will consider harm to the victims in deciding whether to grant the Department of Justice's request. There are no open criminal investigations or civil lawsuits that would typically be the basis for disclosure. DOJ officials will have to explain why the unsealing is in the public's interest. Since the government is the party typically trying to keep the transcripts secret, and they're taking the opposite approach here, I expect the judge to grant the request."
Victims' names and other details would likely still be redacted, according to Nicole Parker, a former FBI agent who was stationed in Florida, where Epstein kept one of his mansions.
"Americans are going to be greatly underwhelmed with the release of anything Epstein-related," she said. "There is no smoking gun. And for the record, there is nothing more that this administration would love to do than to put handcuffs on anyone that's hurting a child."
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