Request to unseal Epstein grand jury transcripts likely to disappoint,
ex-prosecutors say
[July 21, 2025]
By LARRY NEUMEISTER
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.”
[to top of second column]
|
This photo combination shows from top left, Assistant U.S. Attorney
Maurene Comey listening in New York, July 8, 2019, attorney Todd
Blanche after a hearing, Sept. 5, 2024, in Washington, Attorney
General Pam Bondi speaking during a news conference at the Justice
Department, June 6, 2025, in Washington and and President Donald
Trump speaking at an event in the East Room of the White House, July
18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, Jose Luis Magana,
Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Alex Brandon, file)
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.
___
Associated Press Writers Eric Tucker and Alanna Durkin Richer
contributed to this report
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
