Document 795

Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 795 Filed 07/25/25 Page 1 of 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, -v- GHISLAINE MAXWELL, Defendant. 20-CR-330 (PAE) ORDER PAUL A. ENGELMAYER, District Judge: The Court has received the attached letter from MSW Media, Inc., styled as a motion to intervene, which addresses the scope of appropriate redactions of grand jury transcripts to the extent, if any, that the Court may authorize the disclosure of these. The Court denies the motion to intervene but will take into consideration the views expressed in MSW Media's letter. SO ORDERED. Paul A. Engelmayer PAUL A. ENGELMAYER United States District Judge Dated: July 25, 2025 New York, New York DOJ-OGR-00015058 --- PAGE BREAK --- Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 795 Filed 07/25/25 Page 2 of 4 ATTACHMENT 1 DOJ-OGR-00015059 --- PAGE BREAK --- Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 795 Filed 07/25/25 Page 3 of 4 NATIONAL SECURITY COUNSELORS 1451 ROCKVILLE PIKE, SUITE 250 ROCKVILLE, MD 20852 TELEPHONE: (501) 301-4NSC (4672) FACSIMILE: (240) 681-2189 KEL MCCLANAHAN, ESQ., EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (admitted in DC, NY, WA) EMAIL: KEL@NATIONALSECURITYLAW.ORG BRADLEY P. MOSS, ESQ., DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (admitted in DC, IL) 25 July 2025 Hon. Paul A. Engelmayer United States District Court for the Southern District of New York Thurgood Marshall Courthouse 40 Foley Square New York, NY 10007 Re: United States v. Maxwell, Case No. 20-Cr-330 Dear Judge Engelmayer: On behalf of MSW Media, Inc. ("MSW Media"), I respectfully submit this letter motion to intervene in the above-captioned case for the purposes of partially supporting and partially opposing the Government's motion to unseal the transcripts of grand jury testimony in this case, filed as Docket No. 785. MSW Media (https://mswmedia.com/) operates numerous podcasts and blogs about federal government operations, including Mueller She Wrote, SpyTalk, Daily Beans, and Jack. It clearly qualifies as a representative of the news media. MSW Media has standing to intervene in this case for the following reason. On 17 July 2025, after President Donald Trump publicly instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek the Court's permission to release "any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, we filed a Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") request with the Department of Justice ("DOJ") for transcripts of all grand jury testimony from this case and United States v. Epstein, No. 19-490 (S.D.N.Y.). We are concerned with the modifier "pertinent" in President Trump's instruction, and that concern seemed vindicated when the Government advised this Court that it intended to "make appropriate redactions of victim-related information and other personal identifying information prior to releasing the transcripts." (Dkt. #785 at 2 (emphasis added)). To be clear, we have no interest in victim-related information, and this Motion does not pertain to that information. However, we do have concerns that the Government seems to be implicitly seeking this Court's permission to withhold other personally identifiable information, such as information about Defendant's partners in crime or clients. Accordingly, while we join the Government in requesting that these transcripts be released, we accordingly make this narrow independent request to the Court: Please do not weigh in on the appropriateness of withholding personally identifiable information unrelated to victims. We intend to litigate this FOIA request if necessary, and the question of whether such information may be properly withheld is a DOJ-OGR-00015060 --- PAGE BREAK --- Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 795 Filed 07/25/25 Page 4 of 4 question best left to the court adjudicating that future case. We are concerned that, if this Court explicitly or implicitly blesscs the Government's proposed redactions of non-victim-related personally identifiable information (even in passing), that opinion will be treated as a proverbial thumb on the scale in our FOIA case without materially affecting the Court's decision in this case. In other words, if this Court mentions in its decision that it was swayed at all by the Government's promise to redact personally identifiable information, we are concerned that the Government will then argue in its FOIA case that "Judge Englemayer agreed that this information should not be publicly disclosed." Therefore, we respectfully request that this Court not take the Government's statements regarding non-victim-related personally identifiable information into account when reaching its decision regarding the Government's motion, and we further request that the Court specify that it is not opining on that question, should it grant the Government's motion. The Government takes no position on the intervention of MSW Media. I attempted twice—Wednesday and Thursday—to reach Defendant's counsel and have not received a response, so I am filing this as an opposed motion due to the fast-moving nature of this case. Sincerely, Kel McClanahan Counsel for Proposed Intervenor DOJ-OGR-00015061