Judge shoots down Trump DOJ bid to unseal Epstein grand jury notes as ‘diversion’ from releasing real Epstein files
The Department of Justice has struck out with all its requests to federal judges to unseal grand jury transcripts and other materials related to Jeffrey Epstein.
A judge in New York on Wednesday denied the government’s request to unseal the documents, noting that the content of grand jury transcripts in the sex offender’s trafficking case “pales in comparison to the Epstein investigative information and materials” already in the hands of the Justice Department.
District Judge Richard Berman, who presided over Epstein’s case before he died in his jail cell in 2019, agreed with another judge who last week had called the government’s request a “diversion” tactic to distract from public pressure against Donald Trump’s administration to release the so-called Epstein files.
“The government is the logical party to make comprehensive disclosure to the public of the Epstein file,” Berman wrote on Wednesday.
“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,” he added. “The grand jury testimony is merely a hearsay snippet of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged conduct.”
Wednesday’s ruling follows a judge’s rejection of the Justice Department’s request for grand jury documents in the case against Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence after her conviction on sex trafficking charges tied to Epstein’s crimes.
In his 31-page opinion on August 11, District Judge Paul Engelmayer said nothing new would be revealed from the documents, and the public would instead “come away feeling disappointed and misled.”
Last month, Florida District Judge Robin Rosenberg said her “hands are tied” when it comes to laws governing the release of grand jury transcripts, noting that the government’s request falls outside the bounds of narrow exceptions.
“The government’s request is not to assist with litigation in the New York federal proceedings,” she wrote. “The government wants the petition to be granted so that it can release evidence to the public at large.”
This is a developing story
