FLASH
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A federal judge has ruled against releasing transcripts and evidence collected by the grand jury during the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, rejecting the Department of Justice's (DOJ) request to disclose them.
Judge Richard Berman argued that the DOJ failed to overcome legal precedents protecting the confidentiality of grand jury materials. He also noted that the records constitute only a small portion of the full investigative file, which is now in the hands of the Justice Department.
“The information contained in the grand jury transcripts on Epstein is negligible compared to the extensive materials in the possession of the Department of Justice,” Judge Berman wrote.
This is the third federal judge to refuse to release such documents related to Epstein, following the line of two other judges in New York and Florida, who reasoned that the DOJ's request was neither in the public interest nor supported by law.
Judge Berman added that another strong reason to keep these materials closed relates to the protection of Epstein's victims, who could face risks to their safety and privacy if the documents were made public.
The Justice Department declined to comment on the decision, facing criticism for its lack of transparency. Earlier this year, senior officials had promised to release more documents, but since May they have started to back down, downplaying the issue.
Political pressure and public reactions
The issue has become increasingly heated in the American political arena. The Trump administration has faced repeated calls to reveal more about the Epstein files, especially after former Attorney General Pam Bondi warned Trump that his name was in the files. In July, the DOJ issued an unsigned memo stating that it would not release any more documents, which angered both Democrats and Trump's political base.
The DOJ's efforts have also included the case of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's close associate, who is serving a 20-year sentence for child sex abuse and trafficking. There, too, a federal judge in New York rejected the request to release the grand jury materials, calling them baseless and in the public interest.
In July, Maxwell was questioned over two days by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Tallahassee, Florida. The DOJ is preparing a transcript of a 10-hour recording of that interview.
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