Request to unseal Epstein grand jury records likely to disappoint, ex-prosecutors say
Justice Department’s bid to unseal Epstein-Maxwell grand jury transcripts faces scepticism
A Justice Department request to unseal grand jury transcripts in the prosecution of chronic sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein and his former girlfriend is unlikely to produce much, if anything, to satisfy the public’s appetite for new revelations about the financier’s crimes, former federal prosecutors say.
Lawyer Sarah Krissoff, an assistant US attorney in Manhattan from 2008 to 2021, called the request in the prosecutions of Epstein and imprisoned British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell “a distraction”.
“The president [Donald Trump] is trying to present himself as if he’s doing something here and it really is nothing,” Krissoff told Associated Press in a weekend interview.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche made the request on Friday, asking judges to unseal transcripts from grand jury proceedings that resulted in indictments against Epstein and Maxwell, saying “transparency to the American public is of the utmost importance to this Administration”.
The request came as the administration sought to contain the firestorm that followed its announcement that it would not be releasing additional files from the Epstein investigation, despite previously promising that it would.
Epstein killed himself at age 66 in his prison cell in August 2019, a month after his arrest on sex trafficking charges. Maxwell, 63, is serving a 20-year prison sentence imposed after her December 2021 sex trafficking conviction for luring girls to be sexually abused by Epstein.