Thread by @realjusthuman

🧵Update on DOJ's efforts to unseal Epstein and Maxwell grand jury material:

Judge Engelmeyer has DENIED DOJ's motion to unseal the grand jury materials in the Maxwell case.

"A member of the public familiar with the Maxwell trial record who reviewed the grand jury materials that the Government proposes to unseal would [] learn next to nothing new."

"The Court’s review confirmed that unsealing the grand jury materials would not reveal new information of any consequence."

I'll break down the judge's 31-page order in this thread.

For anyone interested, here is a link to my previous update thread 👇

Here is a link to the opinion and order.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

Judge Engelmeyer provides this background:

July 2, 2019- Epstein indicted
July 6, 2019- Epstein arrested
August 10, 2019- Epstein suicide
June 29, 2020- Maxwell indicted on 6 counts
July 8, 2020- Maxwell superseding indictment
March 29, 2021- Maxwell 2nd superseding indictment adds 2 counts, broadens the time period to cover 1994-2004.

November 29, 2021- Maxwell trial begins on the six counts concerning sex trafficking, illegal sex acts, transportation of minor, etc.

The two perjury counts are severed.

December 29, 2021- Maxwell is convicted on 5 out of 6 counts.

After Maxwell is sentenced, DOJ dismissed the two remaining perjury counts "in light of victims’ interests in closure and avoiding the trauma of testifying again."

"The evidence adduced at trial is well-summarized in" the following filings:

Judge Nathan’s post-trial decision denying Maxwell’s post-trial motions
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

DOJ Brief
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

2nd Circuit decision denying Maxwell's appeal
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

Evidence against Maxwell presented at trial and in the filings listed above included:

-Testimony from four victims
-Testimony from employees for Epstein and Maxwell
-Testimony from Law Enforcement
-Physical evidence
-Epstein and Maxwell's black address book
-Corroborating records such as flight logs

"The trial evidence focused on six girls... [and] established that Maxwell had been instrumental in an approximately decade-long scheme with Epstein to entice, groom, transport, and traffic numerous young women and underage girls to engage in sexual activity with Epstein."

Post-trial, Maxwell filed a number of motions.

Only one was granted, that concerning the conspiracy charges being multiplicitous. Basically, Counts 1, 3, and 5 were seen by Judge Nathan as being for the same illegal acts (the conspiracy with Epstein).

This meant that Maxwell would be sentenced based on Counts 3, 4, and 6.

June 28, 2022- Maxwell is sentenced to 240 months’ imprisonment.

20 years.

DOJ had asked for at least 30 years.

February 28, 2023- Maxwell appealed her conviction and sentence based on the 2007 NPA applying to her, the 2nd superseding indictment being untimely, juror misconduct, prejudicial response to a jury note, and sentencing being procedurally unsound.

September 17, 2024- The 2nd Circuit affirmed Judge Nathan's ruling on all five matters.

November 25, 2024- The 2nd Circuit denied a rehearing

April 10, 2025- Maxwell files at SCOTUS, arguing that Epstein's 2007 NPA applies to her.


This is still pending. realghislaine.com/_files/ugd/ba2…

February 27, 2025- DOJ issues a press release that includes links to a trove of Epstein- and Maxwell-related documents.
justice.gov/opa/pr/attorne…

From the press release,

"There will be no withholdings or limitations to my or your access. The [DOJ] will ensure that any public disclosure of these files will be done in a manner to protect the privacy of victims and in accordance with law"

Put a pin in this statement; we'll come back to it.

July 6, 2025- DOJ and FBI issue this memo

justice.gov/opa/media/1407…

"The memorandum included a hyperlink to video footage from Epstein’s housing unit, which, it stated, supported the FBI’s investigative conclusion that Epstein had committed suicide in his cell at the MCC on August 10, 2019."

July 18, 2025- DOJ files motions to unseal the grand jury material in the Epstein and Maxwell cases.

July 22, 2025- Judge Engelemeyer gets the Maxwell case and asks DOJ for more information.

DOJ is ordered to file a motion addressing unsealing factors and victim notification and to file redacted and unredacted versions of the grand jury materials.

July 29, 2025- DOJ complies.

July 31, 2025- Judge asks DOJ if they want to unseal the exhibits as well AND directs DOJ to identify "the portions of the grand jury transcripts and exhibits that, as proposed for public release, are not already matters of public record."

August 5, 2025- Maxwell files in opposition to the unsealing.

August 8, 2025- DOJ complies, says yes, we are seeking to unseal exhibits as well and files "a document indicating the portions of the grand jury transcripts that are not matters of public record."

With this filing, both Judge Engelmeyer and the DOJ are now aware of what portions of the sealed grand jury materials (transcripts and exhibits) are currently public and which are not.

That is it for the background to this matter.

The next section deals with the legal issues of unsealing.

The policy that “proceedings before a grand jury shall generally remain secret” is “older than our Nation itself.”

Grand jury secrecy serves the following purposes:

Disclosure of grand jury materials can happen if one or more of these exceptions to that secrecy are met:

Additionally, there is a "Special Circumstance" Doctrine that is recognized in the Second and Seventh Circuits.

9 factors for trial courts to consider when confronted with a "special circumstances" doctrine argument.

"The doctrine is to be applied only in “exceptional circumstances,” and it does not justify granting “garden variety” petitions for disclosure"

In their motion, DOJ does not put forth that they have an exception for the unsealing they are seeking.

DOJ is making a "special circumstances" argument for the unsealing.

"The Government’s invocation of special circumstances, however, fails at the threshold. Its entire premise—that the Maxwell grand jury materials would bring to light meaningful new information about Epstein’s and Maxwell’s crimes, or the Government’s investigation into them—is demonstrably false."

The Maxwell grand jury materials DO NOT contain "contain significant, undisclosed information about Epstein’s and Maxwell’s crimes, or the investigation into them."

Two noteworthy features of the grand jury materials:

1) The grand juries in this case were not investigative.

There's no firsthand witness testimony. None. Not from "any victim, eyewitness, suspect, or even a records custodian."

"Each grand jury received evidence on a single day."

And from one witness: a law enforcement agent.

June 29, 2020- The first Maxwell grand jury meets.

They hear from a single witness, an FBI agent, who testifies for 1hr 25mins. The transcript is 74 double spaced pages. Two exhibits are used, one a PowerPoint presentation and the proposed indictment.

July 8, 2020- That same grand jury meets again and returns the first superseding indictment. No new evidence was presented.

March 29, 2021- A second grand jury meets regarding Maxwell.

They hear from an NYPD detective for 1 hr 48 mins. The transcript is 117 double-spaced pages.

2/3rds of what they hear is just a reading of the original FBI agent's testimony.

6 exhibits are used. The same PowerPoint the previous grand jury saw, a new PowerPoint with new exhibits, the previous Maxwell indictment, and the new superseding one.

2) "The evidence put before the Maxwell grand juries is today, with only very minor exceptions, a matter of public record."

"The Court’s review confirmed that unsealing the grand jury materials would not reveal new information of any consequence."

"A member of the public familiar with the Maxwell trial record who reviewed the grand jury materials that the Government proposes to unseal would thus learn next to nothing new."

There's nothing new in these materials.

"There is no “there” there."

"This case is thus a far cry from every reported case applying the Second Circuit’s “special circumstances” doctrine."

"The Government has not cited any case finding such materials to present a “special circumstance” that justifies the exceptional step of unsealing grand jury materials. There is none."

"The one colorable argument under that doctrine for unsealing in this case, in fact, is that doing so would expose as disingenuous the Government’s public explanations for moving to unseal."

"the public interest in testing the Government’s bona fides does not require the extraordinary step of unsealing grand jury records."

The information in the grand jury materials being sought for unsealing are "already almost entirely a matter of longstanding public record"

Earlier in this thread, I said to put a pin in this statement, as we would come back to it.

DOJ is fulfilling the promises made by President Trump and the commitments outlined in this statement.

By going to the courts for unsealing, DOJ put all the sealed Maxwell grand jury materials before a judge.

The judge got to compare what was sealed with what was already public.

And he found "nothing."

No revelations of new crimes, third-party conspirators, or victimizers; no new victims or locations or evidence.

Nothing that anyone familiar with the Maxwell case would find compelling or revealing.

"There is no "there" there."

The "there" that people are looking for is a fiction.

That "there" only exists in memes, conspiracy forums, and talk shows; it is woven into the narratives pushed by grifters and influencers. It thrives in the imaginations of the conspiracy fandom.

But it is nowhere to be found in the documents or in the evidence.

We'll see what happens in the Epstein cases, but I don't expect the baseline conclusions of the July 6 DOJ memo to change at all.

Nor should you. The review was already done and the conclusions already reached.

DOJ is involving the courts in this unsealing effort so that a) others can view the materials and affirm the conclusions and b) exhaust every avenue of disclosure and transparency.

justice.gov/opa/media/1407…

This is promises kept by Trump, Bondi, Kash, and Bongino.

Don't let others convince you otherwise.