Yesterday, the Department of Justice filed a Memorandum in Support of Motion regarding the request to unseal the grand jury transcripts from Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s cases in the Southern District of New York.
On July 17th, President Trump posted to Truth Social that he called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce “any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval.” Bondi filed motions in both the case in Florida from 2008, which has already been denied, followed by the Southern District of New York (SDNY) for both the Epstein case (2019) and the Maxwell case (2021).
Grand jury transcripts are usually held in the utmost confidence, however, in 1997, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the lower court in the SDNY decision denying the unsealing of the grand jury information. The Second Circuit held that “there are certain ‘special circumstances’ in which release of grand jury records is appropriate even outside the boundaries of the rule.”
In the Second Circuit’s ruling, it enumerated a list of “non-exhaustive factors for trial courts to consider when deciding such motions”:
(i) the identity of the party seeking disclosure; (ii) whether the defendant to the grand jury proceeding or the government opposes the disclosure; (iii) why disclosure is being sought in the particular case; (iv) what specific information is being sought for disclosure; (v) how long ago the grand jury proceedings took place; (vi) the current status of the principals of the grand jury proceedings and that of their families; (vii) the extent to which the desired material— either permissibly or impermissibly—has been previously made public; (viii) whether witnesses to the grand jury proceedings who might be affected by disclosure are still alive; and (ix) the additional need for maintaining secrecy in the particular case in question.
In the memorandum filed, the DOJ was asked to “address with specificity these and other factors that the Government views as germane to its application.” The Court also asked whether “before filing the instant motion, counsel for the Government reviewed the Maxwell grand jury transcripts” and whether they provided notice to the victims.
The Court also asked the DOJ to submit indices of the grand jury material, two complete sets of both the Maxwell and Epstein grand jury transcripts (redacted and unredacted versions), and a description of the grand jury materials, including exhibits.
The DOJ acknowledged that they have provided notice to “all but one” of the victims referenced in the grand jury transcripts. Attempts to contact the remaining victim have been unsuccessful. Currently, the DOJ is providing notice to other individuals identified in the transcripts.
Among the cases cited by the DOJ in their motion to unseal were In re Petition of Nat. Sec. Archive (SDNY 2015) and In re Craig (2d Cir. 1997).
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