Aug. 20, 2025:
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge who presided over the sex trafficking case against financier Jeffrey Epstein has joined two other judges in rejecting the government’s request to unseal grand jury transcripts related to the decades-long sexual abuse suffered by girls and young women who fell into his orbit.
The ruling Wednesday by Judge Richard Berman in Manhattan came after the judge presiding over the case against British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend, also turned down the government’s request.
Barring reversal on appeal, Berman’s decision forecloses the possibility of grand jury testimony being released now that three judges have reached the same conclusion. A federal judge in Florida declined to release grand jury documents from an investigation there in 2005 and 2007.
The rulings are a collective repudiation of the Justice Department’s effort to divert attention away from its stated refusal to release a massive trove of records in its possession and make clear that the still-sealed court documents contain none of the answers likely to satisfy the immense public interest in the case.
President Donald Trump had called for the release of transcripts amid rumors and criticism about his long-ago involvement with Epstein. During last year’s presidential campaign, Trump promised to release files related to Epstein, but he was met with criticism — including from many of his own supporters — when the small number of records released by his Justice Department lacked new revelations.
A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment on Wednesday.
Berman said a “significant and compelling reason” to reject the government’s request was that the information contained in the Epstein grand jury transcripts “pales in comparison to the Epstein investigative information and materials in the hands of the Department of Justice.”
He wrote that the government’s 100,000 pages of Epstein files and materials “dwarf the 70 odd pages of Epstein grand jury materials.”
“The Government is the logical party to make comprehensive disclosure to the public of the Epstein Files,” Berman wrote in an apparent reference to the Justice Department’s refusal to release additional records on its own while simultaneously moving to unseal grand jury transcripts.
“By comparison,” Berman added, “the instant grand jury motion appears to be a ‘diversion’ from the breadth and scope of the Epstein files in the Government’s possession. The grand jury testimony is merely a hearsay snippet of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged conduct.”
The Justice Department had informed Berman that the only witness to testify before the Epstein grand jury was an FBI agent who, the judge noted, “had no direct knowledge of the facts of the case and whose testimony was mostly hearsay.”
The agent testified over two days, on June 18, 2019, and July 2, 2019. The rest of the grand jury presentation consisted of a PowerPoint slideshow shown during the June 18 session and a call log shown during the July 2 session, which ended with grand jurors voting to indict Epstein. Both of those will also remain sealed, Berman ruled.
Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence after her conviction on sex trafficking charges for helping Epstein sexually abuse girls and young women. She was recently transferred from a prison in Florida to a prison camp in Texas. Epstein died in jail awaiting trial.
Maxwell’s case has been the subject of heightened public focus since an outcry over the Justice Department’s statement last month saying that it would not be releasing any additional documents from the Epstein sex trafficking investigation. The decision infuriated online sleuths, conspiracy theorists and elements of Trump’s base who had hoped to see proof of a government cover-up.
Since then, officials in Trump’s Republican administration have tried to cast themselves as promoting transparency in the case, including by requesting from courts the unsealing of grand jury transcripts.
Meanwhile, Maxwell was interviewed at a Florida courthouse weeks ago by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and the House Oversight Committee had also said that it wanted to speak with Maxwell. Her lawyers said they would be open to an interview but only if the panel were to ensure immunity from prosecution.
In a letter to Maxwell’s lawyers, Rep. James Comer, the committee chair, wrote that the committee was willing to delay the deposition until after the resolution of Maxwell’s appeal to the Supreme Court. That appeal is expected to be resolved in late September.
Comer wrote that while Maxwell’s testimony was “vital” to the Republican-led investigation into Epstein, the committee would not provide immunity or any questions in advance of her testimony, as was requested by her team.
July 21, 2025:
NEW YORK (AP) — Ex-federal prosecutors say 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. Attorney Sarah Krissoff, who was an assistant U.S. attorney in Manhattan from from 2008 to 2021, calls a Justice Department request to unseal grand jury transcripts in the prosecutions of Epstein and imprisoned British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell a distraction. The request came as some supporters of President Donald Trump blasted his administration for reneging on a vow to make public key evidence.
Story
NEW YORK (AP) — 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.
Attorney Sarah Krissoff, an assistant U.S. 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 is trying to present himself as if he’s doing something here and it really is nothing,” Krissoff told The Associated Press in a weekend interview.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche made the request 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 probe despite previously promising that it would.
Epstein is dead while Maxwell serves a 20-year prison sentence
Epstein killed himself at age 66 in his federal jail cell in August 2019, a month after his arrest on sex trafficking charges, while 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.
Krissoff and Joshua Naftalis, a Manhattan federal prosecutor for 11 years before entering private practice in 2023, said grand jury presentations are purposely brief.
Naftalis said Southern District prosecutors present just enough to a grand jury to get an indictment but “it’s not going to be everything the FBI and investigators have figured out about Maxwell and Epstein.”
“People want the entire file from however long. That’s just not what this is,” he said, estimating that the transcripts, at most, probably amount to a few hundred pages.
“It’s not going to be much,” Krissoff said, estimating the length at as little as 60 pages “because the Southern District of New York’s practice is to put as little information as possible into the grand jury.”
“They basically spoon feed the indictment to the grand jury. That’s what we’re going to see,” she said. “I just think it’s not going to be that interesting. … I don’t think it’s going to be anything new.”
Ex-prosecutors say grand jury transcript unlikely to be long
Both ex-prosecutors said that grand jury witnesses in Manhattan are usually federal agents summarizing their witness interviews.
That practice might conflict with the public perception of some state and federal grand jury proceedings, where witnesses likely to testify at a trial are brought before grand juries during lengthy proceedings prior to indictments or when grand juries are used as an investigatory tool.
In Manhattan, federal prosecutors “are trying to get a particular result so they present the case very narrowly and inform the grand jury what they want them to do,” Krissoff said.
Krissoff predicted that judges who presided over the Epstein and Maxwell cases will reject the government’s request.
With Maxwell, a petition is before the U.S. Supreme Court so appeals have not been exhausted. With Epstein, the charges are related to the Maxwell case and the anonymity of scores of victims who have not gone public is at stake, although Blanche requested that victim identities be protected.
“This is not a 50-, 60-, 80-year-old case,” Krissoff noted. “There’s still someone in custody.”
Appeals court’s 1997 ruling might matter
She said citing “public intrigue, interest and excitement” about a case was likely not enough to convince a judge to release the transcripts despite a 1997 ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that said judges have wide discretion and that public interest alone can justify releasing grand jury information.
Krissoff called it “mind-blowingly strange” that Washington Justice Department officials are increasingly directly filing requests and arguments in the Southern District of New York, where the prosecutor’s office has long been labeled the “Sovereign District of New York” for its independence from outside influence.
“To have the attorney general and deputy attorney general meddling in an SDNY case is unheard of,” she said.
Cheryl Bader, a former federal prosecutor and Fordham Law School criminal law professor, said judges who presided over the Epstein and Maxwell cases may take weeks or months to rule.
“Especially here where the case involved witnesses or victims of sexual abuse, many of which are underage, the judge is going to be very cautious about what the judge releases,” she said.
Tradition of grand jury secrecy might block release of transcripts
Bader said she didn’t see the government’s quest aimed at satisfying the public’s desire to explore conspiracy theories “trumping — pardon the pun — the well-established notions of protecting the secrecy of the grand jury process.”
“I’m sure that all the line prosecutors who really sort of appreciate the secrecy and special relationship they have with the grand jury are not happy that DOJ is asking the court to release these transcripts,” she added.
Mitchell Epner, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice, called Trump’s comments and influence in the Epstein matter “unprecedented” and “extraordinarily unusual” because he is a sitting president.
He said it was not surprising that some former prosecutors are alarmed that the request to unseal the grand jury materials came two days after the firing of Manhattan Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey, who worked on the Epstein and Maxwell cases.
“If federal prosecutors have to worry about the professional consequences of refusing to go along with the political or personal agenda of powerful people, then we are in a very different place than I’ve understood the federal Department of Justice to be in over the last 30 years of my career,” he said.
Krissoff said the uncertain environment that has current prosecutors feeling unsettled is shared by government employees she speaks with at other agencies as part of her work in private practice.
“The thing I hear most often is this is a strange time. Things aren’t working the way we’re used to them working,” she said.
July 18, 2025:
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans were grasping late Thursday (July 17, 2025) to formulate a response to the Trump administration’s handling of records in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case, ultimately putting forward a resolution that carries no legal weight but nodded to the growing demand for greater transparency.
The House resolution, which could potentially be voted on next week, will do practically nothing to force the Justice Department to release more records in the case. Still, it showed how backlash from the Republican base is putting pressure on the Trump administration and roiling GOP lawmakers.
The House was held up for hours Thursday from final consideration of President Donald Trump’s request for about $9 billion in government funding cuts because GOP leaders were trying to respond to demands from their own ranks that they weigh in on the Epstein files. In the late evening they settled on the resolution as an attempt to simultaneously placate calls from the far-right for greater transparency and satisfy Trump, who has called the issue a “hoax” that his supporters should forget about.
Yet the House resolution was the latest demonstration of how practically no one is moving on from Attorney General Pam Bondi’s promises to publicly release documents related to Epstein. Since he was found dead in his New York jail cell in August 2019 following his arrest on sex trafficking charges, the well-connected financier has loomed large among conservatives and conspiracy theorists who have now lashed out at Trump and Bondi for declining to release more files in the case.
“The House Republicans are for transparency, and they’re looking for a way to say that they agree with the White House. We agree with the president. Everything he said about that, all the credible evidence should come out,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday afternoon.
Democrats vehemently decried the resolution’s lack of force. They have advanced their own legislation, with support from nine Republicans, that would require the Justice Department to release more information on the case.
Rep. Jim McGovern, who led the Democrats’ debate against the Republican resolution Thursday night, called it a “glorified press release” and “a fig leaf so they can move on from this issue.”
Under pressure from his own GOP members, Johnson had to demonstrate action on the Epstein files or risk having Republicans support the Democratic measures that would force the release of nearly all documents.
“The American people simply need to know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said at a news conference. “Democrats didn’t put this into the public domain. The conspiracy theory provocateur-in-chief Donald Trump is the one, along with his extreme MAGA Republican associates, who put this whole thing into the public domain for years. And now they are reaping what they have sown.”
Still, Democrats, who hold minorities in both chambers, have relished the opportunity to make Republicans repeatedly block their attempts to force the Justice Department to release the documents.
Trump in recent years has suggested he would release more information about the investigation into Epstein, especially amid speculation over a supposed list of Epstein’s clients.
In February, the Justice Department released some government documents regarding the case, but there were no new revelations. After a months-long review of additional evidence, the department earlier this month released a video meant to prove that Epstein killed himself, but said no other files related to the case would be made public.
A White House spokeswoman said Thursday that Trump would not recommend a special counsel in the case. But later Thursday, the president said he had asked Bondi to seek the release of testimony from grand jury proceedings in the case.
Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, said that process would likely only produce limited information, but added that it showed that “the president is hearing the American people.”
July 17, 2025:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has fired Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI director James Comey and a prosecutor in the federal cases against Sean “Diddy” Combs and Jeffrey Epstein, three people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. There was no specific reason given for her firing from the U.S. attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York, according to one of the people. They spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters. Comey’s termination comes shortly after she prosecuted Combs, who was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges. The rapper was convicted of lesser prostitution-related offenses.
July 16, 2025:
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump is lashing out at his own supporters, accusing them of being duped by Democrats, as he tries to clamp down on criticism over his administration’s handling of much-hyped records in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation, which Trump now calls a “Hoax.”
“Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this “bull——,” hook, line, and sinker,” Trump wrote Wednesday (July 16, 2025) on his Truth Social site, using an expletive in his post. “They haven’t learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 long years.”
“Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore! Thank you for your attention to this matter,” he went on.
The rhetoric marks a dramatic escalation for the Republican president, who has broken with some of his most loyal backers in the past, but never with such fervor.
The schism centers on his administration’s handling of documents surrounding Epstein, who was found dead in his New York jail cell in August 2019, weeks after his arrest on sex trafficking charges. Last week, the Justice Department and the FBI acknowledged that Epstein did not maintain a “client list” to whom underage girls were trafficked, and they said no more files related to the investigation would be made public, despite past promises from Attorney General Pam Bondi that had raised the expectations of conservative influencers and conspiracy theorists.
Bondi had suggested in February such a document was sitting on her desk waiting for review. Last week, however, she said she had been referring generally to the Epstein case file, not a client list.
“It’s a new administration and everything is going to come out to the public,” she had said at one point.
Trump has since defended Bondi and chided a reporter for asking about the documents.
“I don’t understand what the interest or what the fascination is,” he said Tuesday.
In an Oval Office appearance Wednesday, Trump made clear that he was done with the story, regardless of what his supporters think.
“It’s all been a big hoax,” he told reporters. “It’s perpetrated by the Democrats, and some stupid Republicans and foolish Republicans fall into the net.”
He complained that Bondi has been “waylaid” over her handling of the case and has given out all “credible information” about the wealthy financier. “If she finds anymore credible information she’ll give that, too,” Trump said. ”What more can she do than that?”
Bondi has “bigger problems” to work on, the president said, citing the administration’s work to remove criminals who are living in the United States illegally.
The blowup comes after Trump and many figures in his administration, including FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, have spent years stoking dark and disproved conspiracy theories, including embracing QAnon-tinged propaganda that casts Trump as a savior sent to demolish the “deep state.”
Trump’s comments so far have not been enough to quell those who are still demanding answers.
Some of the podcasters and pro-Trump influencers who helped rally support for Trump in the 2024 campaign said Wednesday they were disappointed or puzzled by his comments on the issue.
Benny Johnson, a conservative podcaster who has called for the Epstein records to be released, said on his show that he is a fan of Trump’s movement but is trying to “give tough love and speak on behalf of the base.”
“Maybe it hasn’t been framed correctly for the president,” Johnson said. “I don’t know.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., in an interview on Benny Johnson’s show Tuesday, had called for the Justice Department to “put everything out there and let the people decide.”
Far-right conspiracy theorist and podcaster Alex Jones called Trump’s handling of the Epstein situation “the biggest train wreck I’ve ever seen.”
“It’s not in character for you to be acting like this,” he said in a video reacting to Trump on Tuesday evening calling the case boring. “I support you, but we built the movement you rode in on. You’re not the movement. You just surfed in on it.”
Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk on his podcast on Wednesday attempted some damage control on Trump’s behalf.
“Don’t take too seriously this whole Truth Social here,” Kirk told his audience. “I know some people are getting fired up about this. I don’t believe he was trying to insult anybody personally.”
Kirk said he thinks Trump’s supporters are “talking past each other a little bit” on the Epstein matter but are actually aligned in wanting to expose the “deep state.”
He also offered a message to Trump.
“The grassroots is not trying to make you look bad,” he said. “We want to try and make sure the bad people that have done such terrible things to you can finally be held accountable.”
Other Trump allies have stuck by his side, suggesting he does not need the influencers who have capitalized on Epstein conspiracy theories to make money and earn viewers.
“He lent you his clout and voters,” Brenden Dilley, the head of a group of meme makers who have lent their support to Trump, wrote on X on Wednesday. “They don’t belong to you.”
July 7, 2025:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department will not release more files related to the wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking investigation despite promises from Attorney General Pam Bondi that had raised the expectations of conservative influencers and conspiracy theorists. A Justice Department memo released Monday (July 7, 2025) says there is no evidence Epstein maintained a “client list.” It represents a public walk-back of a theory that the Trump administration itself had helped promote, with Bondi suggesting in a Fox News interview earlier this year that such a document was “sitting on my desk” in preparation for release. Bondi for weeks had suggested that more evidence was going to be revealed, saying in one interview: “It’s a new administration and everything is going to come out to the public.”
Story
WASHINGTON (AP) — Jeffrey Epstein did not maintain a “client list,” the Justice Department acknowledged Monday (July 7, 2025) as it said no more files related to the wealthy financier’s sex trafficking investigation would be made public despite promises from Attorney General Pam Bondi that had raised the expectations of conservative influencers and conspiracy theorists.
The acknowledgment that the well-connected Epstein did not have a list of clients to whom underage girls were trafficked represents a public walk-back of a theory that the Trump administration had helped promote, with Bondi suggesting in a Fox News interview earlier this year that such a document was “sitting on my desk” for review.
Even as it released video from inside a New York jail meant to definitively prove that Epstein killed himself, the department also said in a memo that it was refusing to release other evidence investigators had collected. Bondi for weeks had suggested more material was going to be revealed — “It’s a new administration and everything is going to come out to the public,” she said at one point — after a first document dump she had hyped angered President Donald Trump’s base by failing to deliver revelations.
That episode, in which conservative internet personalities were invited to the White House in February and provided with binders marked “The Epstein Files: Phase 1” and “Declassified” that contained documents that had largely already been in the public domain, has spurred far-right influencers to lambast and deride Bondi.
After the first release fell flat, Bondi said officials were poring over a “truckload” of previously withheld evidence she said had been handed over by the FBI. In a March TV interview, she claimed the Biden administration “sat on these documents, no one did anything with them,” adding: “Sadly these people don’t believe in transparency, but I think more unfortunately, I think a lot of them don’t believe in honesty.”
But after a months-long review of evidence in the government’s possession, the Justice Department determined that no “further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted,” the memo says. The department noted that much of the material was placed under seal by a court to protect victims and “only a fraction” of it “would have been aired publicly had Epstein gone to trial.”
The two-page memo bore the logos of the Justice Department and the FBI but was not signed by any individual official.
“One of our highest priorities is combatting child exploitation and bringing justice to victims,” the memo says. Perpetuating unfounded theories about Epstein serves neither of those ends.”
Conservatives who have sought proof of a government coverup of Epstein’s activities and death expressed outrage Monday over the department’s position. Far-right influencer Jack Posobiec posted: “We were all told more was coming. That answers were out there and would be provided. Incredible how utterly mismanaged this Epstein mess has been. And it didn’t have to be.”
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones wrote that “next the DOJ will say ‘Actually, Jeffrey Epstein never even existed,’ calling it “over the top sickening.” Elon Musk shared a series of photos of a clown applying makeup appearing to mock Bondi for saying the client list doesn’t exist after suggesting months ago that it was on her desk.
The client list hubbub began when Bondi was asked in a Fox News interview whether the department would release such a document.
She replied: “It’s sitting on my desk right now to review.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and Justice Department spokesperson Chad Gilmartin said Monday that Bondi was referring to the Epstein files in general, not a client list specifically.
Among the evidence that the Justice Department says it has in its possession are more than 10,000 videos and images that officials said depicted child sex abuse material or “other pornography.” Bondi had earlier suggested that part of the reason for the delay in releasing additional Epstein materials was because the FBI needed to review “tens of thousands” of recordings that she said showed Epstein “with children or child porn.”
The Associated Press published a story last week about the unanswered questions surrounding those videos.
Multiple people who participated in the criminal cases of Epstein and socialite former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell told AP that they had not seen and did not know of a trove of recordings along the lines of what Bondi had referenced. Indictments and detention memos also don’t allege the existence of video recordings and neither Epstein nor Maxwell were charged with possession of child sex abuse material even though that would have been easier for prosecutors to prove than the sex trafficking counts they faced.
The AP did find reference in a filing in a civil lawsuit to the discovery by the Epstein estate of videos and pictures that could constitute child sex abuse material, but lawyers involved in that case said a protective order prevents them from discovering the specifics of that evidence.
The Justice Department did not respond to a detailed list of questions from AP about the videos Bondi was referencing.
Monday’s memo does not explain when or where they were located, what they depict and whether they were newly found as investigators scoured their collection of evidence or were known for some time to have been in the government’s possession.
Epstein was found dead in his jail cell in August 2019, weeks after his arrest on sex trafficking charges, in a suicide that foreclosed the possibility of a trial.
The department’s disclosure that Epstein took his own life is hardly a revelation even though conspiracy theorists have continued to challenge that conclusion.
In November 2019, for instance, then-Attorney General William Barr told the AP in an interview that he had personally reviewed security footage that revealed that no one entered the area where Epstein was housed on the night he died and Barr had concluded that Epstein’s suicide was the result of “a perfect storm of screw-ups.”
More recently, FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino have insisted in television and podcast interviews that the evidence was clear that Epstein had killed himself.
July 1, 2025:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Pam Bondi’s comments about evidence the Justice Department is reviewing from its Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation have fueled anticipation about the expected release of more files related to the New York financier. But weeks after Bondi’s claim about “tens of thousands” of Epstein videos, it’s unclear what she was referring to. The Associated Press spoke with lawyers and law enforcement officials in criminal cases of Epstein and socialite ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell who said they hadn’t seen and didn’t know of a trove of recordings like what Bondi described. One of Maxwell’s lawyers says salacious videos of Epstein with children never surfaced.
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