The Justice Department asked a Manhattan federal court to release the grand jury transcripts tied to Jeffrey Epstein’s federal sex-trafficking case following mounting pressure to increase transparency when it comes to the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender.
The July 18 move, which calls for redacting personal identifying information before making the records public, follows a request President Donald Trump said he made to Attorney General Pam Bondi amid the ongoing controversy.
“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,” Trump posted on Truth Social July 17.
Bondi responded the same day in a post on X that the Justice Department is “ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts.”
The July 18 request from Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche promises that DOJ will make “appropriate redactions” to shield both victim-related information and personal identifying information – if the court authorizes releasing the records.
That caveat could be disappointing to members of the public who have clamored for the government to release the names of any potential Epstein clients who may have participated with him in a sex-trafficking ring. Several members of Trump’s own administration have fanned the flames of those conspiracies for years, including FBI Director Kash Patel, who told right-wing media figure Glenn Beck in 2023 that the head of President Joe Biden’s FBI had direct control of an Epstein “black book.”
However, in a memo released July 7, the Justice Department and FBI said a review of the government’s records on Epstein failed to turn up any client list and no further disclosures were warranted. While the department is now pushing for greater transparency, it stood by the memo’s other determinations in its request to the court.
“While the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation continue to adhere to the conclusions reached in the Memorandum, transparency to the American public is of the utmost importance to this Administration,” according to the filing.
Bondi and Blanche also asked for the grand jury transcripts to be unsealed that are tied to Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell’s federal criminal case. Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence while appealing her 2021 conviction for trafficking a minor to Epstein.
This story has been updated with additional information.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump DOJ asks court to release Epstein grand jury records
