Attorney General Pam Bondi has filed an expedited motion seeking the release of the grand jury transcripts in the Jeffrey Epstein case amid an aggressive push by lawmakers to release all files related to the late convicted sex offender.
Bondi filed the motion in the U.S. District Court of Southern Florida, leveraging the enactment of the Epstein Files Transparency Act earlier this week as reason to unseal the confidential materials.
“In the 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 motion reads. It also clarifies that the Justice Department will redact any sensitive information from the files, such as the names of victims and other personal, identifying information.
Trump originally directed Bondi to release the Epstein case’s grand jury transcripts in July amid public furor over the administration’s initial refusal to release files related to the disgraced financier.
“Based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval,” Trump posted on his social platform Truth Social. Bondi replied in the affirmative in a post on X.
But the administration’s efforts to unseal grand jury transcripts hit a wall in federal court. Grand jury trial materials are normally kept sealed to protect the reputations of people under government investigation and to more easily obtain truthful testimony from witnesses. The Justice Department’s (DOJ) summer request for a New York federal court to unseal the jury’s transcripts due to “extensive public interest” was denied.
Bondi’s motion for the transcripts’ release in a Florida federal court comes amid an abrupt pivot by the administration and GOP members of Congress supporting the release of files related to Epstein. Trump directed Republican Congress members to vote to release the Epstein files, a measure that passed 427-1 on the House floor before passing unanimously in the Senate. The president then signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act into law on Wednesday.
Though Bondi said the DOJ had obtained “new information” Wednesday that caused investigators to reverse the decision to close the Epstein case — providing potential justification for continuing to withhold case documents — Republican senators warned her not to drag her feet.
“You can adjust for whatever investigations are going on, but if you do a blanket hold, I think that they’re going to have a lot of people angry,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said.
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