Topline
The Trump administration asked courts to release evidence shown to the grand juries that indicted Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell—though it’s unclear how much of that information may already be public.
The Justice Department submitted court filings in Epstein and Maxwell’s court cases, which told the judges overseeing them that they want to have the grand jury exhibits unsealed with redactions to keep victims’ identities private.
The DOJ has already asked the courts to release transcripts of the grand jury proceedings, but Friday’s filings expand that request to include specific pieces of evidence that were shown before the grand juries voted to indict Epstein and Maxwell.
It’s unclear what the exhibits could include, and the government has acknowledged in court filings that at least some of the evidence overlaps with exhibits that were publicly released when Maxwell was on trial.
The government has already said the grand juries only heard testimony from law enforcement about Epstein and Maxwell’s alleged crimes, and did not hear from any victims directly.
The Trump administration said it will submit a private court filing detailing how many of the exhibits are or are not already public, so it won’t be clear how much information is new until any exhibits are publicly released.
Epstein’s estate has not taken a position on the grand jury materials being released, while Maxwell has opposed the grand jury materials in her case being made public, with lawyer David Oskar Marcus writing, “Given that [Maxwell] is actively litigating her case and does not know what is in the grand jury record, she has no choice but to respectfully oppose the government’s motion to unseal it.”
It’s still unclear when or if any grand jury materials will be released in Epstein or Maxwell’s cases. Grand jury materials are typically only released under very limited circumstances, though the Trump administration has argued an exception should be made in this case given the widespread public interest. No materials will likely be released for at least another week, as the Trump administration asked the courts Friday to wait until it contacts the victims whose names appear in the grand jury exhibits before unsealing anything. The DOJ said it will update the government by August 14.
Judges also directed the Trump administration to respond in their filing Friday to letters that Epstein victims submitted in court, if they chose to, as well as Maxwell’s motion opposing the grand jury materials being released. Unnamed victims said in letters to the court that they disagreed with the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein case and believed they were not properly respecting the victims of his alleged sexual abuse, with one writing she feels “the DOJ’s and FBI’s priority is protecting … the wealthy men” that Epstein associated with rather than the victims. “What [the Trump administration has] done and continue[s] to do is eating at me day after day as you help to perpetuate this story indefinitely,” another victim wrote. “Why not be completely transparent? Show us all the files with only the necessary redactions! Be done with it and allow me/us to heal.” The Trump administration did not respond to the victims’ letters in its filing Friday.
Epstein, a financier known to associate with high-profile figures, was accused of sexually abusing more than 100 women prior to his arrest in 2019 and subsequent death in prison. Maxwell is believed to be his closest associate, and was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison based on sex trafficking charges linking her to Epstein’s alleged abuse. (She is still appealing her conviction.) Interest in the cases has surged in the wake of the DOJ’s memo last month saying the agency would not release any more of the Epstein-related files in its possession, despite officials like Attorney General Pam Bondi long promising those files would be released. The request for the grand jury materials is one of several steps the DOJ has taken in response to the public outcry over its refusal to release the Epstein files, though the grand jury materials are expected to only include a small fraction of the total information the agency has in its possession. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche also interviewed Maxwell about Epstein and his associates, though it still remains to be seen to what extent that interview will be made public.