By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Much of the information presented to the grand jury that indicted Ghislaine Maxwell for helping the late financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls has already been made public, the Justice Department said in a court filing on Tuesday.
President Donald Trump last month instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek the release of the Epstein and Maxwell grand jury material, as he sought to quell discontent from his base of conservative supporters and congressional Democrats over his administration’s handling of documents from the cases.
Tuesday’s filing underscored how it is unclear whether the public will learn anything new or noteworthy from the potential release of such material. The Justice Department said much of the testimony from law enforcement officers at Maxwell’s grand jury proceedings in 2020 was corroborated by the victims and witnesses who testified publicly at her trial the following year.
“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,” the Justice Department wrote in the filing.
Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted of sex trafficking. Epstein died by suicide in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He had pleaded not guilty.
Last month, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche met with Maxwell to see if she had any information about other people who may have committed crimes. Neither party has provided a detailed account of what they discussed. Maxwell last week was moved from a prison in Florida to a lower-security facility in Texas.
Grand juries meet in secret to guard against interference in criminal investigations, and records of their proceedings cannot be disclosed without a judge’s permission.
The Justice Department has cited what it calls continuing public interest in the cases in asking Manhattan-based judges Richard Berman and Paul Engelmayer to authorize the disclosure of the grand jury transcripts.
Lawyers for Epstein, Maxwell and their alleged victims are due to share their views on the potential disclosures with the judges by Tuesday.
Separately on Tuesday, the Republican-led House Oversight Committee issued a subpoena to the Justice Department for records related to Epstein.
Epstein was known for socializing with wealthy and powerful individuals, and his death in jail has fueled conspiracy theories that other prominent people may have been involved in his crimes and that he was murdered.
Trump, a Republican, had promised to make public Epstein-related files if reelected and accused Democrats of covering up the truth. But in July, the Justice Department said a previously touted Epstein client list did not exist, angering Trump’s supporters.
Democrats are also pushing for the release of Epstein files, saying Trump should be held accountable for breaking his promise to release them.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
