A federal judge has rejected the Trump administration’s request to release transcripts related to the Jeffrey Epstein case. U.S. District Judge Richard Berman declared that there is “clear precedent and sound purpose” for keeping the grand jury materials sealed, arguing that the federal government failed to show the Epstein documents warrant a “special circumstance” to vouch for their release.
“The information contained in the Epstein grand jury transcripts pales in comparison to the Epstein investigation information and materials in the hands of the Department of Justice,” the judge wrote, according to The Hill, adding that the government is the “logical party to make comprehensive disclosure to the public of the Epstein Files.”
“By comparison, the instant grand jury motion appears to be a ‘diversion’ from the breadth and scope of the Epstein files in the Government’s possession,” Berman argued.
A similar ruling was handed down by New York Judge Paul A. Engelmayer, who denied a request from the Department of Justice to unseal transcripts from the trial that indicted Ghislaine Maxwell.
“The Government’s invocation of special circumstances, however, fails at the threshold,” according to the judge. “Its entire premise — that the Maxwell grand jury materials would bring to light meaningful new information about Epstein’s and Maxwell’s crimes, or the Government’s investigation into them — is demonstrably false.”
“The Court’s review confirmed that unsealing the grand jury materials would not reveal new information of any consequence,” the ruling notes.
Maxwell’s attorney, David Oscar Markus, urged the judge to reject the effort to unseal the documents.
