Justice Department asks court to unseal Epstein grand jury records

WASHINGTON AP The Justice Department petitioned a federal court on Friday to unseal grand jury transcripts in Jeffrey Epstein s incident amid a firestorm over the Trump administration s handling of records related to the wealthy financier Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche filed motions urging the court to release the Epstein transcripts as well as those in the situation against convicted British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell a day after President Donald Trump directed the Justice Department to do so The Trump administration has been embroiled in disagreement since the Justice Department last week revealed that it would not be releasing any more evidence in its possession from Epstein s examination Trump s demand to release the grand jury transcripts came after The Wall Street Journal communicated on a sexually suggestive letter that the newspaper says bore Trump s name and was included in a album for Epstein s th birthday Trump denied writing the letter calling it false malicious and defamatory The Justice Department reported it will work with with prosecutors in New York to make appropriate redactions of victim-related information and other personally identifying information before transcripts are distributed Grand jury transcripts which could show the testimony of onlookers and other evidence presented by prosecutors are rarely disclosed by courts unless they need to be disclosed in connection with a judicial proceeding Even with the Justice Department endorsement it could take weeks or months of legal wrangling to decide what can be circulated and how to protect spectators and other sensitive victim information