# Making Grand Jury testimony public **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 4, 2017, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-grand-jury-testimony-public/792780 "2017-08-04T15:40:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Anny\_Middon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2017, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-grand-jury-testimony-public/792780/1 "2017-08-04T15:40:23Z")
So Mueller is starting to use a DC grand jury to subpoena people in his ongoing investigation. Many are making a big deal about this, although I’m not exactly sure why. But AIUI grand jury proceedings are secret. The interest in what happens during these is going to be extremely strong. Is there any way in which transcripts or reports of the proceedings can be legally obtained and published? If not, will there be leaks to the media about what progressed? If there are leaks, should/will the leakers be investigated and perhaps punished? If the grand jury testimony leads to indictments will there be some way to tell what happened in the grand jury proceedings? Is grand jury testimony often presented as part of a later trial? (I.e., “When you testified in front of the grand jury you said X; now you are saying Y. Were you lying then or are you lying now?” Or, “In the grand jury, you said Z. What did you mean by that?”) ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2017, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-grand-jury-testimony-public/792780/2 "2017-08-04T16:19:31Z")
[Here’s](http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/08/03/what-is-a-grand-jury-trump-russia-mueller-investigation-215458?lo=ap_b1)a good story to read. > [@Politico.com](#): > > The work that grand juries do is secret, which means that grand jurors—who are ordinary citizens chosen at random and vetted by the federal district court—cannot share what is happening before the grand jury. Federal rules also prevent prosecutors from disclosing what happens before the grand jury. But those same rules permit witnesses to disclose what happened, and people who receive grand jury subpoenas are usually not prohibited from disclosing their contents. That means that we will likely continue to hear media reports about witnesses and documents sought by Mueller and his team, as we did on Thursday. > > One quirk of grand juries could be significant. When a witness testifies under oath before the grand jury, no one else is permitted to be present other than the prosecutor and the grand jurors. The witness is not even allowed to have a lawyer present, and the normal rules of evidence that limit questioning in a trial do not apply. For that reason, when witnesses receive a grand jury subpoena, their lawyer often asks the prosecutor to agree to permit the witness to be interviewed by the prosecutor and a FBI agent with the lawyer present. The FBI agent’s presence would make it a crime to lie during the interview—creating the risk of Trump or one of his associates committing a crime through their words—but the lawyer would be present and could assist the witness. > > That said, interviews are not typically transcribed, even though the FBI agent prepares a report memorializing the interview. For that reason, when it is important for a prosecutor to pin down a witness’s testimony, the prosecutor will insist that the witness testify under oath before the grand jury. Not sure if that answers your question entirely. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2017, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-grand-jury-testimony-public/792780/3 "2017-08-04T16:50:47Z")
Woodward and Bernstein almost got into trouble for trying to find and interview the grand jurors in the watergate case. Judge Sirica found out and gave the media a severe talking-to in chambers, without identifying who the reporters were. (It wasn’t clear if he knew it was W&B but didn’t name them because he lacked proof, or if he just knew that some reporters were nosing around and didn’t know who.) It’s in “All the President’s Men.” ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2017, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-grand-jury-testimony-public/792780/4 "2017-08-04T22:17:01Z")
I am currently serving on a civil grand jury (looking into the efficiency and effectiveness of city and county government, not criminal investigations). We take an oath to maintain confidentiality of everything that happens in jury meetings, interviews, etc. (I call it the Cone of Silence). Violation is a misdemeanor and grounds for dismissal from the jury. The reason for this is to protect information sources who might be vulnerable to retaliation. For example, if we interview someone who we will identify in the report as “an assistant in X department,” we have to interview several people who could be described that way so that the boss of X department won’t be able to tell which one spilled the beans. People we interview also are admonished to keep the contents of the interview (both questions and answers) confidential, although we can’t really enforce that. I can tell you that the court under whose jurisdiction we operate takes this very seriously, and as a result so do we. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2017, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-grand-jury-testimony-public/792780/5 "2017-08-05T12:18:31Z")
My concern isn’t the press. Several people hanging around the Trump universe are basically mobsters. Mobsters are really good at finding juror IDs and making threats. John Gotti got the nickname “The Teflon Don” from his family’s ability in this area. I’d hate to be one of these people. Save your country or your family? ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2017, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/making-grand-jury-testimony-public/792780/6 "2017-08-05T12:43:22Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > My concern isn’t the press. > > Several people hanging around the Trump universe are basically mobsters. > > Mobsters are really good at finding juror IDs and making threats. John Gotti got the nickname “The Teflon Don” from his family’s ability in this area. > > I’d hate to be one of these people. Save your country or your family? Cite?