A judge will need to make the final decision on whether material can be released, which could take some time and is unlikely to be immediate.
It’s unclear what material the Trump administration will ask to be released. It’s not clear how much of the Epstein-related material in the government’s possession is grand jury testimony.
Epstein was investigated by federal authorities in Florida in the 2000s, which ended in a non-prosecution agreement and a guilty plea on state prostitution charges, and he was later charged with child sex trafficking in Manhattan in 2019. The government also secured a conviction against Epstein’s co-conspirator,
Ghislaine Maxwell. It investigated the circumstances of Epstein’s death in federal custody, which was deemed a suicide.
The order from Mr. Trump comes after the Justice Department and FBI
released a memo stating that Epstein did not have an incriminating “client list,” did not try to blackmail any prominent figures, and died by suicide. The memo drew backlash from across the political spectrum, including from some fervent Trump backers, in part because Bondi and other administration figures had promised to release information on Epstein.
The government is
generally required to keep grand jury materials secret, and it’s common for not all material that is shown to a grand jury — which meets before a person is criminally indicted — to emerge during a criminal case.
A request of this kind by the government is unusual, says Mitchell Epner, a partner at the New York law firm Kudman Trachten Aloe Posner, and a former federal prosecutor.
“I’ve been in and around federal criminal cases for over 30 years. I’ve never heard of this before,” he told CBS News.
While the scope of the government’s request is still unknown, Epner says it could encompass an “enormous quantity of data.” Mr. Trump said the government would seek the release of grand jury testimony, which Epner noted may include exhibits that witnesses testified about before a grand jury.
“I would not bet against there being anything, from the most interesting thing in the world to the least interesting thing in the world, in that material,” said Epner, who told CBS News he believes calls for more information to be disclosed in the Epstein case are warranted.
Epner joked: “If we were to find out the location of the corpse of Jimmy Hoffa, I would not be surprised.”
Material likely will not be released immediately, according to Epner, who said, “weeks would be moving very quickly, months is likely.” Under court rules, grand jury material is typically only released under certain circumstances, often when it’s needed for some other investigation. The government’s grounds for release in this case aren’t clear.
In this case, both associates and alleged victims of Epstein’s may oppose some disclosures.
“I would not be surprised if a number of people came forward under pseudonyms to object to the release of grand jury material related to them,” Epner said. “I also would not be surprised if some of the victims…came forward and said, ‘Yes, we do want things to be revealed.'”
