The Trump administration’s move to unseal grand jury information in the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell cases was always a narrow effort, legally speaking, because grand jury presentations generally deal with narrow sets of evidence presented for the purposes of indicting specific people.

Grand jury transcripts are rarely released by courts, unless they need to be disclosed in connection with a judicial proceeding. The papers filed Tuesday cite a 1997 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that said judges have wide discretion and public interest alone can justify releasing grand jury information.

Donald Trump's administration, seeking to ease an uproar plaguing his presidency, urged two judges to release testimony to a grand jury that indicted Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell on sex trafficking charges.