Donald Trump's plan to publicize court documents in the Jeffrey Epstein case is actually a calculated "strategy" to avoid the scandal, and Pam Bondi is "aiding and abetting" him, according to a former federal prosecutor.
Trump recently announced he would direct his attorney general to release all "pertinent" grand jury files related to Epstein's case, but the problem is that option is not within Trump's power, but with the courts. Bondi immediately said she would ask the court for such a release.
Some say this was an attempt to finally provide transparency to the MAGA base, which is riddled with conspiracy theories about Epstein, but ex-prosecutor Joyce Vance says it's a calculated "strategy" to ride out the storm and "dodge" the scandal.
Vance asked, "Why the shift?"
"Release of the grand jury material, or as Trump would have it, only the bits that are 'pertinent,' isn’t automatic. Federal prosecutors need a court order to disclose grand jury testimony; they can’t just do it on their own," she wrote, adding that there are specific categories under which the request might fit. "Even if the government can shoehorn its request into one of these categories or another provision of the rule, it will take time. There may be objections from Ghislaine Maxwell, whose case is still on appeal. And, DOJ would have to make a 'strong showing of particularized need' that 'outweighs the public interest in secrecy' in order for the release to be ordered."
Vance went as far as to say this is all part of the plan.
"Grand jury secrecy is designed to protect the integrity of the investigation, prevent witnesses from being intimidated, and safeguard the reputations of those not indicted. To get grand jury material disclosed, a party has to demonstrate a specific need for the information that outweighs the public interest in maintaining secrecy. So why land on an option that is so limited and so fraught? All of the possible impediments to releasing grand jury material may well be the point for Trump. He can say, yet again, that he tried and the courts stood in his way," she wrote. "Even a delay, while lawyers brief the matter and a judge schedules a hearing, could work in Trump’s favor if the fickle public loses interest in the issue and moves on, and he lives to fight another day, yet again. That could explain this strategy."
Vance adds that, "A lot of ink has been spilled on how unfit to serve Pam Bondi is. But it was not enough to convince the Senate to reject her nomination."
"And now we pay the price for it, with an attorney general who is incapable of acting independently of the president to do the right thing instead of the expedient thing. Bondi is giving Trump cover so he can try to ride this dispute out," she added. "She acceded to his order that she ask the court to release what is just a small fraction of the material from the Epstein investigation, only testimony of witnesses prosecutors brought before the grand jury when they sought their indictment. And she does it knowing that it’s unlikely to succeed or could take some time."