The U.S. Department of Justice has filed motions asking two judges in the Southern District of New York to allow the public release of transcripts and exhibits from the grand jury indictment of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, ABC News reported. The move comes amid a 30-day deadline imposed by the newly enacted Epstein Files Transparency Act.
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, appointed by Attorney General Pam Bondi to oversee the Epstein-related investigation, signed a motion seeking court approval to release the materials, subject to necessary modifications.
“In light of the statute’s clear mandate, the court should permit the DOJ to release grand jury transcripts and exhibits and to modify any preexisting protective orders that would otherwise prevent public disclosure of materials required to be released by statute,” the motion said.
The filing said the redactions could be applied to material that would “compromise an active federal investigation or ongoing prosecution,” though it did not mention ongoing investigations into prominent figures including Bill Clinton, Larry Summers and Reid Hoffman that Trump recently ordered.
Decision requested
The Justice Department requested an expedited decision and emphasized that it will coordinate with the appropriate US Attorney’s offices to redact victim-related information and personally identifiable information as appropriate.
Judge Richard Berman earlier denied the release
The department had earlier in August sought approval to release the grand jury materials, but judges denied the request, saying the government had not shown sufficient legal grounds to unseal the documents.
Judge Richard Berman, who presided over Epstein’s 2019 case, denied the Trump administration’s request in August, writing that there was a “substantial and compelling reason” to keep the transcripts sealed.
Berman noted that the government already has more than 100,000 pages of material related to Epstein, which exceeds the roughly 70 pages of grand jury documents.
Grand Jury Session
Grand jury sessions were held on June 18 and July 2, 2019. The July 2 session ended with the grand jurors voting to indict Epstein. The rest of the presentation consisted of a PowerPoint presentation and a call log. Epstein was arrested on July 6, 2019, and was later found dead in his federal prison cell in Manhattan on August 10, 2019, in what authorities ruled a suicide.
