The judges considering requests by Donald Trump’s Department of Justice to release the grand jury transcripts relating to sex trafficking cases against Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell have asked for additional materials.

The Second Circuit in 1997 laid out a nine-factor test for judges to consider whether public interest outweighed rules of grand jury secrecy. In this case, observers opine it could come down to opposition from the surviving parties.

Those factors, applied to the Epstein saga, appear muddled at best. Trump has called for “pertinent” grand jury records to come out. And one of the arguments DOJ previously made against disclosures was that it could damage the purported victims of Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking conspiracy, many of whom are still alive.

Amid a surge of discontent from his supporters, President Donald Trump has directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to disclose "any and all" grand jury evidence pertaining to the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation. "Based on the ridiculous amount of ...

Trump has tried to damp down speculation, fanned mainly by Democrats, that the withheld files contain evidence of a deep connection between Trump and Epstein. Trump has reacted with outrage and disdain, even at members of his political base who have pressed for the files to be released.

This is the extraordinary—and moving—true story of how two teenage girls set off events which have engulfed Trump and hundreds of others.