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Most of what the United States Justice Department wants a federal judge to unseal from the Ghislaine Maxwell grand jury investigation is already public knowledge and the attorney general is not seeking to unseal anything else, according to a court filing made on Tuesday (August 5).
The Department of Justice handed over an annotated version of the Maxwell grand jury transcripts showing that "much of the information provided during the course of the grand jury testimony -- with the exception of the identities of certain victims and witnesses -- was made publicly available at trial or has otherwise been publicly reported through the public statements of victims and witnesses," according to the filing via ABC News. The Justice Department has asked two New York federal judges to unseal grand jury transcripts in the cases against Maxwell and late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, however, is not asking them to unseal the grand jury exhibits, though the attorney general is seeking additional time to consider "its position with respect to unsealing of the grand jury exhibits."
Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year-sentence, was recently moved from Federal Correctional Institution Tallahassee to Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Bryan after speaking with the Department of Justice about Epstein. Federal Prison Camp Bryan typically houses nonviolent offenders and is less restrictive than the Tallahassee federal prison.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons hasn't publicly given a reason for Maxwell's relocation, however, the move was made after she met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in an effort to get immunity by providing details about Epstein. Maxwell, who was Epstein's longtime confidant, having previously never testified in her own defense, is currently serving a 20-year sentence for helping the financier groom and abuse underage girls.
President Donald Trump, whose name reportedly appeared seven times in Epstein's flight logs, and his administration have recently faced scrutiny for not releasing more information about the Epstein files, which led to the president publicly directing U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to release "pertinent" grand jury testimony. On July 16, Quinnipiac University released a poll showing a majority of Americans (63%) disapproved how Trump and his administration had handled the Epstein files.
Podcaster Joe Rogan, who staunchly supported Trump in the 2024 presidential election, criticized the administration's announcement claiming there was never a list or footage revealing Epstein's alleged clients, which was a talking point of conservative pundits for years.
“They’ve got videotape and all [of] a sudden they don’t,” Rogan said on the episode of his Joe Rogan Experience podcast released on July 15.
“You had the director of the FBI on this show saying, ‘If there was [a videotape], nothing you’re looking for is on those tapes,'” he added, referring to FBI Director Kash Patel's appearance on his podcast in June. “Like, what? Why’d they say there was thousands of hours of tapes of people doing horrible s–t? Why’d they say that? Didn’t Pam Bondi say that?"
Bondi had previously claimed that the supposed Epstein list was on her desk awaiting review months ago and told reporters that the FBI was reviewing "tens of thousands of videos" of Epstein "with children or child porn" on July 1 before the DOJ suddenly announced that there was no "Epstein list" or incriminating footage of his associates days later. President Trump spent months claiming he had plans to release everything the government had on Epstein and his alleged associates, which included releasing The Epstein Files: Phase 1 in February, though the files revealed next to no new information.