DOJ Asks Court to Unseal Epstein Grand Jury Testimony
Bondi acknowledged that grand jury proceedings are usually secret, but there have been exceptions due to special circumstances, as ruled by the Supreme Court in 1997.
Attorney General Pam Bondi asked the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York to unseal grand jury transcripts from the Jeffrey Epstein prosecution.
The move comes after the Wall Street Journal published a story about President Donald Trump supposedly sending Epstein a crude birthday letter.
Trump blew up over the story, telling everyone he directed Bondi to release “pertinent” grand jury testimony if the court allows it.
Bondi mentioned the June 6 memo, which described an “an exhaustive review” of all holdings related to Epstein.
“The Memorandum detailed the steps taken by the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation to determine whether evidence existed that could predicate an investigation into uncharged third parties,” wrote Bondi. “As the Memorandum concluded, no such evidence was uncovered during the review.”
The memo only increased everyone’s interest because we could not believe the DOJ and FBI didn’t have anything, especially since Bondi once said the client list was on her desk.
Bondi asked the court to unseal grand jury transcripts from two dates:
On July 2, 2019, a grand jury sitting in the Southern District of New York returned an indictment charging Epstein with sex trafficking offenses.
On June 29, 2020, a grand jury sitting in the Southern District of New York charged Epstein’s longtime confidant, Ghislaine Maxwell, with numerous offenses related to the trafficking and coercion of minors.
Bondi acknowledged that grand jury proceedings are usually secret, but there have been exceptions due to special circumstances, as ruled by the Supreme Court in 1997.
“Historical interest by the public” is one of those circumstances.
SCOTUS wrote that courts retain “discretion to determine ‘whether such an interest outweighs the countervailing interests in privacy and secrecy[.]’”
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Comments
Naomi Wolf’s Substack today posits that the big hangup here is a “network effect.”
1) Trump isn’t on the Epstein list, no matter what WSJ says.
1a) Alan Dershowitz has already said that he’e seen the list and no one in office today is on it.
2) A lot of other powerful people are on that list.
2a) This includes a lot of Silicon Valley types, some of whom are big MAGA contributors.
3) Trump doesn’t want to be the one to release the list and ruinhis colleagues’ lives.
3a) Trump wants to find a way to force New York to do it, so he’s not the bad guy.
This development sure squares with the above.
The problem is that only “pertinent” grand jury testimony will be released, and it will be the Trump administration which will determine what is “pertinent” and what is “not pertinent.”
Yes.
Moon is moonin’ again
And you are transparently evading Zeno’s point.
That word “pertinent” is especially suspect given that Trump said — very begrudgingly — that he’s requesting the release of “pertinent” information because the Epstein matter has already received a “ridiculous” amount of publicity.
So, he proclaimed that too much has already been said, and has publicly attacked — viciously — even his supporters who want more answers. Now, we’re supposed to trust his flunkies’ judgment regarding what additional info is “pertinent”.
“viciously…”
Oh. You mean like your fellow Antifa travelers “viciously” attack cops, ICE, and innocent travelers?
Or did you mean by using “mean tweets” and “words?”
You’re a moral and ethical coward.
Wow — you’ve become so desperate to deflect from Trump’s Epstein cover-up that you’re actually accusing me of being a “fellow traveler of Antifa”.
And yes, Trump did attack his supprters “viciously” for wanting more answers. Did you not read his “Truth Social” meltdown in which he went so far as to tell them that he doesn’t want their support any more?
@Moonbat: you pathetic putz.
Ermagerd…. Trump said some mean words! Pass me the smelling salts!
Meanwhile, your fellow travelers are burning, looting, and murdering.
When Divine Retribution comes, I hope I’m there to watch your check being cashed.
Shove off, girlfriend.
Serious question: Do you think the proceedings would be any more transparent under the Biden administration?
The problem really isn’t Trump it’s all of the core-rotten politicians that run our core-rotten federal government.
Why are you changing the subject? lI seems to think there’s nothing newsworthy in the fact that Trump’s so desperate to cover up for Epstein’s clients that he (Trump) will even burn his base, and throw the mid terms away.
Elsewhere, commentators have already pointed out what a bait-and-switch the release of the Grand Jury testimony will be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GK114NGCM8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdcxDmhskAI
Move those goalposts, moonhammed.
Enjoy the upclicks that that response will get in this echo chamber. Elsewhere, thanks to sources like the ones I’ve linked, people who voted for DJT for the first time last November see that he’s trying desperately to distract, deflect, bamboozle, and bully them.
Concerned troll is concerned.
“echo chamber.”
Perhaps you should head over to MSLSD, or Democrat Underground, or some other place that finds posts from dummies like you appealing.
There’s going to be nothing not already known in the indictment. The island wasn’t searched for 5 weeks after Epstein’s arrest and 2 days after his death so nothing discovered there will be included. The indictment will be a mirror image of Maxwell’s. The two conspired to traffic underage girls to Epstein across state lines.
Keep it short and sweet. Just publish who isn’t on the list.
Admit it. You just want to see your name.
If you are among the conspiracy theorists convinced that everyone around the world worth something is a certain kind of sex criminal and are about to get egg on face shame on you.
If you thought Trump might have been such a person and voted for him……
I am speechless. I voted for him knowing that he is for the most part a good man with a couple of typical flaws he shares with everyone, who I do not agree with 100% of the time.
If you voted for him and think he is a defender of pedophiles who may be a pedophile himself shame shame shame shame on you for betraying yourself and the country.
Again I know the conspiracy theorists have no evidence, there is nothing but evidence against them, and I trust in the character of Donald J Trump.
If that does not describe you how dare you make him president. You are morally incoherent at best if you wanted him to be the president while thinking he is capable of rape or covering up for rapists.
“… especially since Bondi once said the client list was on her desk.”
This is false. She said the Epstein list was on her desk. She misspoke. She meant the Epstein “file” was on her disk.
Have you ever misspoken?
Yeah, but typically I correct it within a day or so or realizing that I mis-set someone’s expectations — not several months later.
Release it all, every bit of it other than names and faces of the minor children. If some prominent folks are embarrassed b/c they were hanging out with Epstein that’s tough cookies. Past time that public shame was brought back into vogue. Hopefully others can learn form this and be deterred from similarly hanging around with the wrong people.
☝️100% agree. Shame is a powerful motivator.
Used to be. Now the more common response is to try to monetize one’s foibles. The CEO and HR head presents the only real example of public shame influencing behavior that I’ve seen in a while.
I’m a fan of transparency but not guilty by association. I agree with releasing it all but I would love to have a grown up and reasonable response in the public sphere…wishful thinking I know.
Sure, everyone can decide for themselves but we are, to some degree, judged by the company we keep. We have phrases for this ‘running with the wrong crowd’ or worse ‘association with known criminals’. We would be more likely to find prostitutes in a brothel than a Convent and we all intuitively understand the role association plays in this fact. We make these sorts of judgement calls all the time especially in who we allow to be around our children. Probably not gonna allow your Son or Daughter go hang with a gang adjacent crowd, much less initiated gang members if you can prevent it.
And for many years Trump was part of Epstein’s inner circle.
watch out for some lefty to alter the books
its a war and lefty is a tricky animal