President Donald Trump’s return to the White House could lead to the public finally getting a look at Jeffrey Epstein’s highly anticipated “black book.” The scrutiny around the late financier and sex trafficker remains strong even years after his death in a New York City federal jail.
Senator Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, has been advocating for the government to release more evidence about Epstein and his potential associates. She brought up the issue at a Senate confirmation hearing for Trump’s FBI director nominee, Kash Patel.
“I have been dedicated to this cause for years, striving to obtain the records detailing who traveled on Epstein’s plane and who assisted in creating this worldwide human trafficking and sex ring,” Blackburn informed the nominee.
At the state level, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last year signed a new law that allowed secret grand jury transcripts to be made public in the case.
Hours after the law took effect, Palm Beach County Court Clerk and Comptroller Joseph Abruzzo announced the release.
Palm Beach police initially opened an investigation into Epstein after a fight between high school girls, according to the transcripts. One, just 16, had been accused of prostitution by a classmate, and a school official later found $300 in her purse – payment from Epstein.
An aerial view of Little St. James Island – one of Jeffrey Epstein’s private islands. This photo was one of many unearthed during Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking trial in the Southern District of New York, where she was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022 for working with Epstein to sexually abuse minors. (U.S. Department of Justice/Mega)
She testified that she had been instructed to concoct a fake life story and pretend to be 18 to get $200 to give Epstein a massage before the first time she met him. Then she revealed she was asked to strip down to her underwear and had a graphic sexual encounter with him.
In a court order authorizing the release of the documents, Circuit Judge Luis Delgado warned that the contents were disturbing.
“It is widely accepted that Epstein is a notorious and serial pedophile,” the order reads. “The testimony taken by the Grand Jury concerns activity ranging from grossly unacceptable to rape – all of the conduct at issue is sexually deviant, disgusting, and criminal. The details in the record will be outrageous to decent people.”
The question remains – who else was involved?
