A federal judge in Florida denied a request by the Trump administration on Wednesday to unseal transcripts of grand jury proceedings related to the first criminal investigations of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2005 and 2007.
U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg wrote that the court’s “hands are tied,” noting that the government had not requested the grand jury’s filings for use in a judicial proceeding and that district courts are typically blocked from unsealing grand jury testimony.
Rosenberg ordered the creation of a new case “in the public interest” to make the government’s request for grand jury material, and her denial of it, publicly accessible. However, she directed that the government’s original July 18 petition to unseal the records be closed.
The Justice Department under President Donald Trump is attempting to unseal grand jury transcripts in the mid-2000s criminal case, as well as from later federal investigations into Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell in New York. Rosenberg’s order does not implicate the other pair of requests.
Following weeks of public criticism about the Department of Justice’s stated intent to stop releasing more Epstein-related information, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche filed petitions last week to unseal transcripts in three related cases.
Blanche announced his plan on Tuesday to meet with Maxwell and her attorney, Miami-based lawyer David Oscar Markus, in the “coming days.”
“President Trump has told us to release all credible evidence. If Ghislaine Maxwell has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the DOJ will hear what she has to say,” Blanche said in the statement posted by Attorney General Pam Bondi on X.
Multiple investigations have concluded that Epstein died by suicide in August 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. He pleaded guilty in 2008 to procuring a minor for prostitution in a controversial plea deal.
Maxwell, his longtime associate, was convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking and other charges for helping Epstein recruit and abuse underage girls. She is serving a 20-year sentence and is appealing her conviction, arguing that her prosecution violated Epstein’s earlier non-prosecution agreement with federal authorities.
