Just two witnesses, both law enforcement officials, testified before the federal grand juries that indicted Jeffrey Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell on sex trafficking charges, Justice Department officials said in support of their request to unseal transcripts of the usually secret proceedings.
FILE – Audrey Strauss, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, points to a photo of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, during a news conference in New York on July 2, 2020. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
In a court filing late Tuesday, the officials again urged the court to release the records, citing huge public interest, but they also sought to assure the judges that making them public wouldn’t harm victims of the couple’s crimes.
While the memo didn’t detail what was in the grand jury testimony, it dampened expectations that the transcripts would contain new revelations, saying that “certain aspects and subject matters” contained in them became public during Maxwell’s trial in 2021 and that other details have been made public through many years of civil lawsuits filed by victims.
The Justice Department described the grand jury witnesses in response to questions from two judges who would have to approve the release of the transcripts. Grand jury transcripts are rarely released by courts, unless they need to be disclosed in connection with a judicial proceeding. The papers filed Tuesday cite a 1997 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that said judges have wide discretion and public interest alone can justify releasing grand jury information.
The Epstein grand jury heard from just one witness, an FBI agent, when it met in June and July 2019, the government disclosed. The Maxwell grand jury heard from the same FBI agent and a New York Police Department detective when it met in June and July 2020 and March 2021, according to the submission.
The memorandum was signed by Jay Clayton, the interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and included the names of Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
Trump supporters want to see the evidence
The request to unseal the transcripts came after the Justice Department enraged parts of President Donald Trump’s base of supporters when it announced in early July it wouldn’t be making public any more investigative files related to Epstein, who was accused of paying underage girls for sexual acts.
The decision not to make additional materials public shocked some Trump supporters because members of his administration had hyped the expected release and stoked conspiracies around the well-connected financier.
Epstein took his own life in a federal jail in August 2019, weeks after his arrest on sex trafficking charges, but his case has generated endless attention and conspiracy theories because of his and Maxwell’s links to famous people, such as royals, presidents and billionaires, including Trump.
Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence after her December 2021 conviction on sex trafficking charges that accused her of luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein. Last week, she sat for 1 1/2 days of interviews with Justice Department officials in Florida, answering questions “about 100 different people,” her attorney said. Maxwell was being interviewed because of Trump’s directive to gather and release any credible evidence about others who may have committed crimes, the deputy attorney general said.
Trump keeps being questioned about Epstein
Trump has denied prior knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and claimed he had cut off their relationship long ago. But he faces ongoing questions about the Epstein case, overshadowing his administration’s achievements. When reporters last week pressed the Republican president about possibly pardoning Maxwell, he deflected, emphasizing his administration’s successes.
In this courtroom sketch, Ghislaine Maxwell enters the courtroom escorted by U.S. Marshalls at the start of her trial, Monday, Nov. 29, 2021, in New York. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Williams)
After the request to unseal grand jury records, two former prosecutors in Manhattan told The Associated Press the transcripts would be relatively short and contain only the testimony of law enforcement witnesses talking about evidence that tracks information in the indictments.
The court memorandum filed Tuesday said many of the victims whose accounts of being exploited by Epstein and Maxwell were discussed before the grand jury by the FBI agent and the NYPD detective later testified at Maxwell’s public trial.
‘Increasing calls for additional disclosures’
The government said no Epstein or Maxwell family members have come forward to express an interest in the request to unseal the grand jury transcripts, although Maxwell has indicated she will file a position with the court.
The memorandum says the request to unseal the transcripts is “consistent with increasing calls for additional disclosures in this matter.”
“There is undoubtedly a clearly expressed interest from the public in Jeffrey Epstein’s and Ghislaine Maxwell’s crimes,” it says. “Beyond that, there is abundant public interest in the investigative work conducted by the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation into those crimes.”
Under a 2008 nonprosecution agreement, Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to state charges of soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution. That allowed him to avert a possible life sentence, instead serving 13 months in a work release program. He was required to make payments to victims and register as a sex offender.
Epstein was later charged by federal prosecutors in Manhattan for nearly identical allegations in 2019.
Maxwell says she’s willing to speak to Congress with immunity
Maxwell is open to answering questions from Congress — but only if she is granted immunity from future prosecution for her testimony, her lawyers said Tuesday.
A spokeswoman for the committee that wants to interview her responded with a terse statement saying it would not consider offering her immunity.
Maxwell’s lawyers also asked that they be provided with any questions in advance and that any interview with her be scheduled after her petition to the U.S. Supreme Court to take up her case has been resolved.
FILE — Ghislaine Maxwell, founder of the TerraMar Project, attends a press conference on the Issue of Oceans in Sustainable Development Goals, at United Nations headquarters, June 25, 2013. (United Nations Photo/Rick Bajornas via AP, File)
The conditions were laid out in a letter sent by Maxwell’s attorneys to Rep. James Comer, the Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee, who last week issued a subpoena for her deposition at the Florida prison where she is serving a 20-year prison sentence on a conviction of conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse underage girls.
MORE | DOJ wants to speak to Jeffrey Epstein’s ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell
In a letter on Tuesday, Maxwell’s attorneys said that though their initial instinct was for Maxwell to invoke her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, they are open to having her cooperate, provided that lawmakers satisfy their request for immunity and other conditions.
But the Oversight Committee seemed to reject that offer outright.
“The Oversight Committee will respond to Ms. Maxwell’s attorney soon, but it will not consider granting congressional immunity for her testimony,” a spokesperson said.
Separately, Maxwell’s attorneys have urged the Supreme Court to review her conviction, saying she did not receive a fair trial. They also say that one way she would testify “openly and honestly, in public,” is in the event of a pardon by Trump, who has told reporters that such a move is within his rights but that he has not been asked to make it.
“She welcomes the opportunity to share the truth and to dispel the many misconceptions and misstatements that have plagued this case from the beginning,” he said.
