Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyer, David Oscar Markus, has issued a warning that the unsealing of the Epstein files could potentially lead to a mistrial.
The U.S. Department of Justice is set to receive the grand jury documents and lift a protective order by Friday following the passing of the Epstein Files Transparency Act in Congress, which was subsequently signed into law by U.S. President Donald Trump. The Epstein estate has agreed to hand over the files at the request of the DOJ, albeit with sensitive information redacted, reports The Mirror US.
The bipartisan bill was introduced amidst escalating criticism of the Trump administration’s management of the high-profile sex trafficking and abuse case linked to the appalling underage sex crimes committed by Epstein, who once shared a close personal relationship with Trump, proving to be a significant obstacle for his second term.
Trump’s Chief of Staff Susie Wiles even conceded that it has proven to be a larger issue for the White House than anticipated in a recent explosive Vanity Fair article.
Maxwell, currently serving a 20-year federal sentence for child sex trafficking and other offences related to the late sex offender and paedophile Epstein, has long fought to keep all materials hidden from public view.
She will be submitting a pro se habeas corpus petition to contest the conditions of her sentence, whilst attempting to maintain the confidentiality of the records, according to her solicitor David Oscar Markus. This follows her transfer to a minimum-security women’s facility in Texas after a two-day interview with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, a decision that sparked considerable backlash.
Markus also cautioned ahead of the highly anticipated disclosure of the files that unsealing the documents could result in a retrial due to prejudice from alleged unsubstantiated claims that will emerge from the grand jury transcripts. He also stated that Maxwell remains neutral on the matter.
“Understanding that President Trump has signed the Epstein Transparency Act into law, Ms. Maxwell does not take a position regarding the government’s request to unseal the grand jury transcripts and modify the protective order,” he said.
Portions of the files have gradually entered the public domain over recent months, including disturbing photographs and emails from the Epstein estate, amongst other revealing documents, illuminating his extravagant lifestyle amongst society’s elite.
Amongst them is an alleged birthday letter penned by Trump to Epstein, which featured a drawing of a naked woman and suggested that the pair shared wonderful secrets. Trump strenuously denies authoring the letter and launched a $20 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal for publishing the letter in July.
Trump has consistently asserted he had no knowledge of Epstein’s criminal activities and played no part in any wrongdoing. Yet a troubling email exchange from 2011 between Maxwell and Epstein, made public by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, appears to challenge Trump’s account.
“I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is Trump,” Epstein wrote via email to Maxwell. “[VICTIM] spent hours at my house with him.”
Responding to the revelations, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt accused House Democrats of “cherry-picking” and “selectively leaking” documents to “liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump.”
