Justice Department again asks judge to unseal Epstein grand jury testimony after Congress passes law

By Alison Main, CNN

(CNN) — The Justice Department has asked a federal judge in Florida to reconsider unsealing grand jury materials related to an investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, as the agency faces a congressionally-mandated deadline to release all documents related to the accused sex trafficker next month.

A judge in the Southern District of Florida previously denied a request by the DOJ to make public transcripts from the case, which federal prosecutors asked for due to “extensive public interest” but not as part of a judicial proceeding.

Epstein committed many of his crimes in Florida. When a Florida judge denied the DOJ’s original request, she said her “hands are tied” because the Justice Department sought to release the sealed evidence due to “extensive public interest,” not as part of a judicial proceeding, which is the usual standard. (moved up)

In a filing on Friday, the Justice Department cited the passage of a law early last week of a law mandating the release of all of its Epstein files within 30 days, arguing, “public production of the grand jury material is therefore required.”

“In light of the Act’s clear mandate, the Court should authorize the Department of Justice to release the grand jury transcripts and lift any preexisting protective orders that would otherwise prevent public disclosure,” the filing says.

But the legislation, which President Donald Trump signed into law last week, does not specifically mention grand jury materials.

The law, formally titled the Epstein Files Transparency Act, was passed by the House of Representatives almost unanimously earlier this month. The Senate then passed the bill through unanimous consent.

It is not clear what files the Justice Department will release or if it won’t release some due to ongoing investigations.

Trump has asked the DOJ to investigate Epstein’s ties to many other high-profile figures associated with the Democratic Party including “Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and many other people and institutions.”

The grand jury testimony that the department seeks to release, however, is only a small portion of the thousands of documents related to the Epstein investigation and criminal case. Many of those documents are already in Justice Department custody and may not have been presented to the jury in Florida.

The-CNN-Wire
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