Although President Donald Trump ordered the Justice Department to request the release of more details in the probe of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, he claimed Saturday that the move may do little to quell the outspoken criticism of his administration’s handling of the case.
The president reiterated on social media that he asked the DOJ “to release all Grand Jury testimony with respect to Jeffrey Epstein, subject only to Court Approval.” Trump, however, lashed out against the loud voices who have called for transparency since the Justice Department and FBI issued their July 6 memo regarding their decision not to release any further files from federal investigations into the late financier.
President Donald Trump departs after signing the GENIUS Act, a bill that regulates stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency, in the East Room of the White House, July 18, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Alex Brandon/AP
“Even if the Court gave its full and unwavering approval, nothing will be good enough for the troublemakers and radical left lunatics making the request. It will always be more, more, more,” Trump said in his post.
Trump has downplayed the concerns from several people, including prominent Republicans and conservative pundits, that the government hasn’t done enough to get to the truth behind the sex trafficking charges issued against the financier six years ago. The Justice Department and FBI confirmed Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail on Aug. 10, 2019.
Trump once had a friendly relationship with Epstein, socializing in New York and Palm Beach. When Epstein was arrested in 2019, Trump said they’d had a falling out and hadn’t spoken in 15 years
The president has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with the Epstein case despite his name appearing several times on Epstein’s private jet flight logs.
The DOJ said in its Friday filing that its request for grand jury testimony follows “extensive public interest.”
The filing said the DOJ plans to work with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York “to make appropriate redactions of victim-related information and other personal identifying information prior to releasing the transcripts.”
“Transparency in this process will not be at the expense of our obligation under the law to protect victims,” the filing added.
The filing, which was only signed by Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, requested the court “conclude that the Epstein and [Ghislaine] Maxwell cases qualify as a matter of public interest, release the associated grand jury transcripts, and lift any preexisting protective orders.”
Maxwell, an associate of Epstein, was convicted of sex trafficking and other charges and sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022.
Commuters walk past a bus stop near Nine Elms Station as activists put up a poster showing President Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein near the US Embassy in London, July 17, 2025.
Thomas Krych/AP
A former federal prosecutor told ABC News that the Justice Department’s request might not give any new details.
The transcript likely mentions a small fraction of the overall testimony and evidence gathered by the DOJ against the disgraced financier, former assistant United States attorney Sarah Krissoff told ABC News.
While the president’s pledge to unseal the transcripts has been heralded by his supporters as evidence of his commitment to transparency, Krissoff cautioned that grand jury testimony generally does not shed much light compared to the case file or evidence presented at trial.
“The grand jury testimony is going to be very limited compared to the entire case file,” she said. “It’s just going to be a real, high-level review – a highlight reel – of what the prosecutors think is important in the case file, which could be hundreds of thousands, if not millions of documents.”
Krissoff spent more than a decade as a prosecutor with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, which brought criminal cases against both Epstein and Maxwell. Krissoff, now a partner at Cozen O’Connor, did not directly work on either case.
She said that SDNY prosecutors generally do not present firsthand witnesses to the grand jury, instead opting to use federal agents who can summarize evidence and the testimony of others.
“The standard practice, particularly in the SDNY, is to keep the grand jury presentation as slim as possible,” Krissoff said. “The goal of the prosecutor is essentially to put in as little evidence as they need in order to get that indictment.”
President Donald Trump arrives for an event to sign the GENIUS Act, a bill that regulates stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency, in the East Room of the White House, July 18, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Alex Brandon/AP
Considering the evidence made public through civil lawsuits and the criminal trial of Maxwell, Krissoff argued that the transcripts are unlikely to change the public understanding of the case.
“I understand that the president wants to appease some folks by disclosing the grand jury testimony, but I just don’t see that as really shedding a light on much here,” she said.
