President Trump’s push to get the courts to release all the grand jury documents from Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking case has not silenced the bipartisan calls for even more transparency in the case.
Rep. Tim Burchett, Tennessee Republican, on Sunday saluted Mr. Trump’s latest effort, but suggested there is still room for more sunlight.
“I think it is a good start,” Mr. Burchett said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program.
Mr. Burchett is one of 10 Republicans who, along with five Democrats, have rallied behind a legislative push by Rep. Thomas Massie, Kentucky Republican, to release all the Epstein files.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota Democrat and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, also called for greater transparency on Sunday.
“To me, as a former prosecutor, there are times when you release things for the good of the country,” she said on CNN’s “State of the Union”. “This is one of those times.”
Mr. Trump has faced some stiff criticism from some of his most loyal supporters over the way the Justice Department and the FBI handled the Epstein investigation.
Responding to that uproar, Mr. Trump announced over the weekend that he had asked the “Justice Department to release all Grand Jury testimony with respect to Jeffrey Epstein, subject only to Court Approval.”
But he added a caveat about the politics of the issue.
“With that being said, and 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,” he wrote. “It will always be more, more, more. MAGA!”
The Trump administration asked a federal court Friday to unseal the grand jury documents related to Epstein’s sex trafficking case.
The decision came after outrage erupted from Democrats and his supporters after the Justice Department said their investigation found no client list of people that may have been involved in Epstein’s operation and that no additional documents would be released to the public.
Mr. Trump said Thursday he would be directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to release the grand jury testimony.
“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. This SCAM, perpetuated by the Democrats, should end, right now!” Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social.
The Justice Department formally requested Friday that the grand jury transcripts be unsealed, as Ms. Bondi had said she would the previous night in response to Mr. Trump.
As was expected, the court did not make an immediate decision.
However, there is a clear appetite for even more transparency, including among Trump loyalists.
Alan Dershowitz, a former Epstein attorney, said the problem with the grand jury documents is that they are “narrowly tailored” and likely will not yield the information that people are demanding, including an alleged client list.
Mr. Dershowitz said the administration should pursue pre-trial discovery and depositions from other cases that are now under seal in New York federal court, as well as seek congressional testimony from Ghislaine Maxwell, a former girlfriend of Epstein who is serving a federal prison sentence for her role in the sex trafficking scheme..
“She is the Rosetta Stone,” Mr. Dershowitz said on “Fox News Sunday.” “She arranged every single trip with everybody. She knows everything.”
Mr. Trump’s attempt to open up the grand jury documents came after The Wall Street Journal reported that a “bawdy’ letter to Epstein with Mr. Trump’s signature was included in an album of letters Epstein received for his 50th birthday in 2003.
The letter, which wasn’t included in the report but was said to contain the outline of a naked woman and says, “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret,” was written 16 years before Epstein would be charged with child sex trafficking. He died in 2019 while in a New York City jail awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges by apparent suicide.
Mr. Trump denied that he wrote the letter or drew the picture. He also sued The Wall Street Journal, its owners and reporters for libel, though public figures face a high bar of having to prove “actual malice” when a published report damages their reputation.
According to the lawsuit, the newspaper reached out to the White House and was told by its lawyers that the letter was false, and yet it published the story anyway.
“The statements were published by Defendants with actual malice, oppression, and fraud in that they were aware at the time of the falsity of the publication and thus, made said publications in bad faith, out of disdain and ill-will directed towards Plaintiff without any regard for the truth,” wrote Alejandro Brito, Mr. Trump’s lawyer in the complaint.
Despite calling for his supporters to let the situation go, and calling it “boring,” a growing number of Republicans and Trump supporters, including former Vice President Mike Pence, Rep. Lauren Boebert, Colorado Republican, far-right podcaster Laura Loomer, and podcaster Joe Rogan have called Ms. Bondi to release additional materials.
• Jeff Mordock and Alex Swoyer contributed to this report.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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