U.S. Justice Department renews bid to unseal grand jury transcripts from Epstein and Maxwell cases

Jeffrey Epstein appears in court in West Palm Beach, Fla., in July, 2008.

The Justice Department on Monday renewed its request to unseal grand jury transcripts from Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking cases, arguing they should be made public under a new law requiring the government to open its files on the late financier and his longtime confidante.

U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton cited the Epstein Files Transparency Act – passed by Congress last week and signed into law by President Donald Trump – in court filings asking Manhattan federal Judges Richard Berman and Paul A. Engelmayer to reconsider their prior decisions to keep the material sealed.

The Justice Department interprets the transparency act “as requiring it to publish the grand jury and discovery materials in t