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‘The court’s hands are tied’: US judge denies request to release Epstein grand jury records from 2007 sex trafficking probe
US District Judge Robin Rosenberg ruled that the DOJ’s arguments didn’t meet any exceptions allowing grand jury secrecy to be lifted.
Commuters walk past a bus stop near Nine Elms Station as activists put up a poster showing President Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein near the US Embassy in London, Thursday. (AP Photo)
A US federal judge on Wednesday denied the Justice Department’s bid to unseal grand jury transcripts tied to Jeffrey Epstein’s early sex trafficking probe, marking a setback in efforts by President Donald Trump’s administration to publicise more details about the case.
The request, focused on investigations from 2005 and 2007, was rejected by US District Judge Robin Rosenberg of Florida, who ruled that the DOJ’s arguments didn’t meet any exceptions allowing grand jury secrecy to be lifted.
It was on Friday, when the justice department filed a motion asking the court to unseal the grand jury transcripts related to the federal investigations into Epstein in 2005 and 2007.
“Eleventh circuit law does not permit this court to grant the government’s request,” Rosenberg wrote in his judgement.
“The court’s hands are tied – a point that the Government concedes,” he added.
The transcripts stem from the Miami US attorney’s office’s handling of the first federal probe into Epstein, which ended with a controversial 2007 agreement. Prosecutors then opted not to file federal charges in exchange for Epstein pleading guilty to state-level prostitution charges—resulting in just 13 months in prison.
The Justice Department has since filed similar unsealing motions in Manhattan, where Epstein’s later indictments and those of Ghislaine Maxwell were pursued. The DOJ ended its review of the case earlier this month, sparking criticism from Trump’s political allies.
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