
Epstein grand jury transcript release a distraction, not a revelation, former prosecutors say
Article content
Attorney Sarah Krissoff, an assistant U.S. attorney in Manhattan from 2008 to 2021, called the request in the prosecutions of Epstein and imprisoned British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell 'a distraction.'
Article content
Article content
Article content
'The president is trying to present himself as if he's doing something here and it really is nothing,' Krissoff told The Associated Press in a weekend interview.
Article content
Article content
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche made the request Friday, asking judges to unseal transcripts from grand jury proceedings that resulted in indictments against Epstein and Maxwell, saying, 'transparency to the American public is of the utmost importance to this Administration.'
Article content
The request came as the administration sought to contain the firestorm that followed its announcement that it would not be releasing additional files from the Epstein probe despite previously promising that it would.
Article content
Epstein killed himself at age 66 in his federal jail cell in August 2019, a month after his arrest on sex trafficking charges, while Maxwell, 63, is serving a 20-year prison sentence imposed after her December 2021 sex trafficking conviction for luring girls to be sexually abused by Epstein.
Article content
Article content
Article content
Krissoff and Joshua Naftalis, a Manhattan federal prosecutor for 11 years before entering private practice in 2023, said grand jury presentations are purposely brief.
Article content
Article content
Naftalis said Southern District prosecutors present just enough to a grand jury to get an indictment but 'it's not going to be everything the FBI and investigators have figured out about Maxwell and Epstein.'
Article content
'People want the entire file from however long. That's just not what this is,' he said, estimating that the transcripts, at most, probably amount to a few hundred pages.
Article content
'It's not going to be much,' Krissoff said, estimating the length at as little as 60 pages, 'because the Southern District of New York's practice is to put as little information as possible into the grand jury.'
Article content
'They basically spoon-feed the indictment to the grand jury. That's what we're going to see,' she said. 'I just think it's not going to be that interesting. … I don't think it's going to be anything new.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


CBC
30 minutes ago
- CBC
Trump threatens to hold up stadium deal if Washington Commanders don't revert to old name deemed offensive
President also voices desire for MLB's Cleveland Guardians to revert to old moniker Image | 1255944811 Caption: A hand-painted concrete barrier stands in the parking lot of Northwest Stadium — home of the NFL's Washington Commanders — in Landover, Maryland, in 2020, prior to the franchise's name and logo rebrand. () President Donald Trump is threatening to hold up a new stadium deal for Washington's NFL team if it does not restore its old name of the Redskins, which was considered offensive to Native Americans. Trump also said Sunday that he wants Cleveland's baseball team to revert to its former name, the Indians, saying there was a "big clamoring for this" as well. The Washington Commanders and Cleveland Guardians have had their current names since the 2022 seasons and both have said they have no plans to change them back. Trump said the Washington football team would be "much more valuable" if it restored its old name. "I may put a restriction on them that if they don't change the name back to the original `Washington Redskins,' and get rid of the ridiculous moniker, `Washington Commanders,' I won't make a deal for them to build a Stadium in Washington," Trump said on his social media site. His latest interest in changing the name reflects his broader effort to roll back changes that followed a national debate on cultural sensitivity and racial justice. The team announced it would drop the Redskins name and the Indian head logo in 2020 during a broader reckoning with systemic racism and police brutality. The Commanders and the District of Columbia government announced a deal earlier this year to build a new home for the football team at the site the old RFK Stadium, the place the franchise called home for more than three decades. Trump's ability to hold up the deal remains to be seen. President Joe Biden signed a bill in January that transferred the land from the federal government to the District of Columbia. The provision was part of a short-term spending bill passed by Congress in December. While D.C. residents elect a mayor, a city council and commissioners to run day-to-day operations, Congress maintains control of the city's budget. Teams have quashed speculation of reverting Josh Harris, whose group bought the Commanders from former owner Dan Snyder in 2023, said earlier this year the name was here to stay. Not long after taking over, Harris quieted speculation about going back to Redskins, saying that would not happen. The team did not immediately respond to a request for comment following Trump's statement. The Washington team started in Boston as the Redskins in 1933 before moving to the nation's capital four years later. The Cleveland Guardians' president of baseball operations, Chris Antonetti, indicated before Sunday's game against the Athletics that there weren't any plans to revisit the name change. "We understand there are different perspectives on the decision we made a few years ago, but obviously it's a decision we made. We've got the opportunity to build a brand as the Guardians over the last four years and are excited about the future that's in front of us," he said. Cleveland announced in December 2020 it would drop Indians. It announced the switch to Guardians in July 2021. In 2018, the team phased out "Chief Wahoo" as its primary logo. The name changes had their share of supporters and critics as part of the national discussions about logos and names considered racist. Cleveland baseball team's name change sparks hopes other teams follow suit Trump posted Sunday afternoon that "The Owner of the Cleveland Baseball Team, Matt Dolan, who is very political, has lost three Elections in a row because of that ridiculous name change. What he doesn't understand is that if he changed the name back to the Cleveland Indians, he might actually win an Election. Indians are being treated very unfairly. MAKE INDIANS GREAT AGAIN (MIGA)!" Matt Dolan, the son of the late Larry Dolan, no longer has a role with the Guardians. He ran the team's charity endeavours until 2016. Matt Dolan was a candidate in the Ohio U.S. Senate elections in 2022 and '24, but lost. Washington and Cleveland share another thing in common. David Blitzer is a member of Harris' ownership group with the Commanders and holds a minority stake in the Guardians.

CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
Republican senator says Trump's 51st state rhetoric not 'constructive' during Ottawa visit
A U.S. Republican senator says she doesn't think President Donald Trump's past comments about making Canada the 51st state are helpful as the two countries are locked in negotiations to reach some sort of trade agreement. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski was in Ottawa as part of a bipartisan delegation meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney on Monday morning. Speaking to reporters following the meeting, Murkowski was asked about Trump's taunts about Canada becoming part of the U.S. "I cannot explain President Trump's rhetoric about the 51st state. That is his statement [and] I think it has been made very, very clear that most view that as nothing more than a positioning statement… something to maybe agitate," she said. "I don't think that's constructive, quite honestly. Certainly here in Canada you can sense that there is a direct hostility, if you will, to that suggestion." Since his re-election in November, Trump has said multiple times that he wants to see Canada join the U.S. as its 51st state — though his rhetoric has cooled in recent weeks. Trump was asked about the idea of Canada joining the U.S. as he was leaving the G7 meeting in Alberta last month and said he still thinks the country should become a state. "I think it's a much better deal from Canada, but, you know, it's up to them," the president told reporters. WATCH | Trump asked about 51st state comments: Trump asked about 51st state comments, Canada's potential role in Golden Dome 1 month ago Trump and Carney have been in talks to reach a trade agreement after the U.S. slapped a series of tariffs on Canada earlier this year. Carney had set a deadline for an agreement to be reached a few times but has most recently pushed it back to Aug. 1. Murkowski was joined in Ottawa by Democratic senators Ron Wyden of Oregon, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Catherine Cortez Masto from Nevada. Carney briefly spoke to reporters, saying he had a "good meeting" with the U.S. delegation. The senators showed off Canada-U.S. friendship bracelets they wore into the meeting. "Four senators here, [from] both political parties, spent the morning working to build bridges, not throw wrenches," Wyden said of the trade talks. Wyden said he and his colleagues covered a number of topics with Carney, including Canada's digital services tax and softwood lumber. The federal government rescinded the tax on companies including Amazon, Google, Meta, Uber and Airbnb last month after Trump called for its removal. Wyden said Monday that he wants Canada to permanently kill the tax in legislation and suggested Carney was open to that idea. The Oregon senator also said he and his colleagues were pushing for a quota on Canadian softwood lumber exports to the U.S. "Softwood lumber is enormously important and we asked about how we could make progress on dealing with that issue," Wyden said. Carney says softwood quota is a possibility The prime minister suggested last week he is open to a trade agreement that includes quotas. "There is normally some element of managed trade that comes out of any agreement that comes there, it can include quotas, can include a variety of trade factors," Carney said. Softwood lumber has been a sticking point in Canada-U.S. relations for decades. The two countries have been without a softwood deal since 2015.


National Post
2 hours ago
- National Post
How Canadian fentanyl smuggling to the U.S. really works and who's behind it: Full Comment podcast
Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. Article content Article content Between President Donald Trump claiming there's a flood of fentanyl from Canada to the U.S., and people here insisting there's almost none, the truth is elusive. A new American report gets to the bottom of what's really going on, and its author, Jonathan Caulkins, talks to Brian about what he found. Specializing in crime systems, the professor from Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College breaks down how global supply chains run by criminal organizations moving from Mexico to China to Australia feed Canadian labs with precursor chemicals. And how much of the final made-in-Canada product actually ends up on America's streets — including, unexpectedly, in Alaska. Article content Article content