I appeared on BBC News today to discuss Donald Trump’s “command” to Attorney General Pam Bondi that she seek the release of grand jury testimony in front of the Jeffrey Epstein grand jury.
The irony here is that Donald Trump has not ordered the release of the DOJ’s “Jeffrey Epstein files” that were obtained through ordinary law enforcement techniques. He could order the release of those materials by a snap of his fingers.
Instead, the only thing that he has ordered AG Bondi to seek to have released is Grand Jury testimony, but the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure (Rule 6(e)) provide that Grand Jury testimony is to be kept secret, absent an order from the Court. The process of seeking a court order will certainly be lengthy. Having a court order in weeks would be extremely quick, months would be typical and I would not be surprised if the process took over a year.
Importantly, there is no guarantee that the court will order the release of the grand jury testimony. Rule 6(e) provides for release of grand jury material for certain specified reasons (usually to enable a prosecution in another jurisdiction), but “general public interest” is not a basis for the release of grand jury testimony. While the Second Circuit Court Of Appeals has recognized that the district court has the discretion to order release of grand jury materials for reasons beyond those enumerated in Rule 6(e):
“"We consistently have recognized that the proper functioning of our grand jury system depends upon the secrecy of grand jury proceedings." Douglas Oil, 441 U.S. at 218, 99 S. Ct. at 1672. At the same time, "a court called upon to determine whether grand jury transcripts should be released necessarily is infused with substantial discretion." Id. at 223, 99 S. Ct. at 1674 quoted in In re Hastings, 735 F.2d at 1273.”
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