BREAKING: DOJ moves to release Epstein grand jury testimony at Trump's direction - The Weeknight - MSNBC

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Fallout from the Epstein scandal is escalating. The Justice Department has moved to unseal select grand jury transcripts, though MAGA loyalists say it’s not enough. MSNBC Senior Reporter Brandy Zadrozny, MSNBC Legal Analysts Catherine Christian and Anthony Coley, and David Corn, Washington Bureau Chief for Mother Jones, join The Weeknight to respond. - Aired on 07/18/2025.

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1. Justice Dept. asks court to release Epstein grand jury testimony

This is a stunt which would not include the vast majority of the file on Epstein. First, it is highly unlikely that the court will release these files given the appeal by Maxwell. The material in these transcripts are a very tiny part of the material in the FBI/DOJ possession.

This is a stunt to try to take pressure off trump.

Link to tweet

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/07/18/bondi-epstein-files-documents-grand-jury-testimony-doj/

The Justice Department on Friday asked a federal court to release grand jury transcripts connected to deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein, responding to a growing political outcry over the agency’s unfulfilled promise to release more details on the government’s investigation of his alleged sex-trafficking of minors......

A judge would have to agree to release them, a process that could take weeks or months. Even then, their disclosure is by no means certain. Grand jury records are shielded by secrecy rules to protect crime victims, witnesses and the accused, and are made public only under limited circumstances......

The sealed transcripts would constitute only a fraction of the evidence and investigative material that the FBI amassed during its years-long investigation. The transcripts are unlikely to fully satisfy Trump’s right-wing base, which continues to call for full transparency surrounding the investigation.

“It is generally a very, very small portion of any investigative file,” said Christopher O’Leary, who spent more than two decades as an FBI counterterrorism agent.

The full extent of what remains under wraps is unclear. Thousands of pages of documents related to the Epstein investigation have already been released through lawsuits, court filings, public records requests and the Justice Department’s prosecution of Maxwell......

As recently as last year, the younger Comey had sought in court to keep records pertaining to some aspects of the Epstein investigation under wraps in a suit brought by the gossip website Radar Online seeking FBI records. Comey pushed against making those documents public in a January 2024 court filing, saying it could interfere with Maxwell’s ongoing appeal of her conviction and subject victims and witnesses to “embarrassment and potential harassment.”