đź§µUpdate 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 👇
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:
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.
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.
"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.
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.
đź§µUNSEALED: New indictment against Zubayr al-Bakoush for his role in the September 11, 2012, terrorist attack on the U.S. Mission in Benghazi, Libya.
Charges include conspiracy, terrorism, attempted murder, murder, and arson.
1/n
Al-Bakoush is the third person to be apprehended and charged in connection to the Benghazi attack.
The other two are Ahmed Salim Faraj Abu Khatallah and Mustafa Muhammad Muftah al-Imam.
2/n
Abu Khattala was indicted in August of 2013 and captured by Delta Force in June 2014.
He was convicted in 2017, sentenced in 2018, but the sentence was later overturned due to it being WAY too low—just 22 years.
He was resentenced to 28 years and is now in the CO Supermax. 3/n
đź§µThere have been a few interesting developments recently in the case of DOW Contractor Perez-Lugones, who stole classified intel, and WaPo's Hannah Natanson who published excerpts of that intel.
I'm going to detail them in this thread and in a new video.
1/n
For background, here is my previous thread on this case.
AG Pam Bondi has empowered the US Attorney for Eastern Missouri, Thomas Albus, as a Special Prosecutor for DOJ under 28 USC 515 and directed him to conduct voter fraud probes in all 94 US Districts.
His first overt move was to convince a magistrate judge in Fulton County to authorize a search warrant for their 2020 election records. The FBI executed that search warrant last week under the supervision of FBI Deputy Director Andrew Bailey and DNI Tulsi Gabbard.
Why would the DNI be there? Well, according to the WSJ, she's been given a task: investigate foreign interference in recent elections—including 2020.
This means that components of both the DOJ and the ODNI are working on election fraud and foreign interference inquiries right now. Interesting!
đź§µAs we expected, or at least hoped for, Don Lemon and several others have been indicted for conspiring to and engaging in a disruption of a church service in St Paul, MN, back on January 18.
Clear violations of the clergy, staff, and parishioners 1A Rights and of the FACE Act
đź§µMeet the special prosecutor @AGPamBondi has empowered to investigate election integrity cases nationwide.
Interim United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri Thomas C. Albus
1/n
@AGPamBondi Albus was CONFIRMED to the post on Dec 18 by a vote of 53-43, so pss pss @USAO_EDMO ya'll need to update the boss's bio.
: )
2/n
@AGPamBondi @USAO_EDMO According to a report in Bloomberg, @AGPamBondi used 28 USC 515 to give Albus the "authority to conduct voter fraud probes anywhere in the US"
He can "coordinate civil and criminal cases, including grand jury proceedings, in all 94 US attorney districts."
Indycar teams, services, safety crews, Marshall’s, transport teams, mechanics, parts suppliers, etc etc etc… all the thousands of people who are required in order to make an Indycar race safely and professionally take place made their plans for 2026 a year ago. Such an upheaval of those plans and a scramble to cram in a race to a calendar that was set many months ago is going to a) piss people off, b) give people severe headaches, c) increase expenditures, and d) set up the race for embarrassment and disarray.
And that’s before we even consider the track, driver and spectator safety, tv coverage plans, radio and timing setup up, the pit setup, hospitality, bathrooms, get approvals from the governing bodies and utilities, etc etc etc.
Indycar doing a race on the east coast, in or near DC?
That’s a fantastic idea!
Forcing a race to happen with only like seven months to plan it all out, get the budgets for it, build the paddock and track, account for all the safety concerns, etc etc.