The drama around the US President Donald Trump administration’s handling of Jeffrey Epstein files continues as the Department of Justice (DOJ) makes a major move.
According to CNN, the DOJ in a new move has requested a federal judge to make the grand jury testimony of convicted sex offender Epstein and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell criminal cases.
In a filing released on Friday, July 18, the department asked the judge to unveil testimony made behind the closed door for “public interest.”
The filing read, “The public’s interest in the Epstein matter has remained. Given this longstanding and legitimate interest, the government now moves to unseal grand jury transcripts associated with Epstein.”
This came after the president asked Attorney General Pamela Bondi to file a motion following widespread backlash.
Trump wrote on Truth Social, “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.”
Bondi, who previously promised to release some important documents related to the infamous child sex offender case, later said that there was no evidence that Epstein kept a “client list.”
The Justice Department, in a memo released last week, declared that “no such evidence (of client list and murder) was uncovered during the review.”
Now, federal judge Richard M. Berman, who previously saw Epstein's criminal case in Manhattan before his death in 2019, will decide whether to release grand jury testimony.
