Judge rejects Trump administration's bid to unseal Epstein grand jury transcripts

Berman and the judge in Maxwell's case, Paul A. Engelmayer, made clear in their rulings that the grand jury transcripts contain none of the answers likely to satisfy the immense public interest in the case.

President Donald Trump had called for the release of transcripts amid rumors and criticism about his long-ago involvement with Epstein. During last year's presidential campaign, Trump promised to release files related to Epstein, but he was met with criticism — including from many of his own supporters — when the small number of records released by his Justice Department lacked new revelations.

A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment on Wednesday.

Each of the judges who declined to release transcripts cited longstanding grand jury secrecy rules and concluded that the government did not meet any of the extraordinary exceptions under federal law that could justify making them public. Berman said it was the first time since 1973 that the government sought to unseal grand jury records for “special circumstances.”

The judges also noted that the Justice Department has voluminous records related to Epstein that aren't covered by grand jury secrecy rules. Berman wrote that the scant information contained in 70 pages of Epstein grand jury transcripts “pales in comparison to the Epstein investigative information and materials in the hands of the Department of Justice," which he said totals around 100,000 pages.

“The Government is the logical party to make comprehensive disclosure to the public of the Epstein Files,” Berman wrote in an apparent reference to the Justice Department’s refusal to release additional records. He said the request to release grand jury records "appears to be a ‘diversion’ from the breadth and scope of the Epstein files in the Government’s possession. The grand jury testimony is merely a hearsay snippet of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged conduct.”

The only witness to testify before the Epstein grand jury in 2019 was an FBI agent who, the judge noted, "had no direct knowledge of the facts of the case and whose testimony was mostly hearsay.” The rest of the grand jury presentation consisted of a PowerPoint slideshow and a call log.

Last year, a judge in Florida unsealed around 150 pages of transcripts of the grand jury proceedings that led to Epstein's indictment on state charges there in 2006.

Maxwell, a British socialite and publishing heir, is serving a 20-year prison sentence after her 2021 conviction on sex trafficking charges for helping Epstein sexually abuse underage girls. She was recently transferred from a prison in Florida to a prison camp in Texas. Epstein's 2019 death in jail awaiting trial was ruled a suicide.

Maxwell’s case has attracted heightened public attention amid an outcry by online sleuths, conspiracy theorists and elements of Trump's base after the Justice Department said last month that it would not release any more documents from the Epstein sex trafficking investigation.

Since then, officials in Trump's Republican administration have cast themselves as promoting transparency, including by requesting the unsealing of grand jury transcripts.

Meanwhile, Maxwell was interviewed at a Florida courthouse weeks ago by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. The House Oversight Committee also said it wanted to speak with Maxwell. Her lawyers said they would be open to an interview only if the panel were to ensure immunity from prosecution.

In a letter to Maxwell’s lawyers, Rep. James Comer, the committee chair, wrote that the committee was willing to delay the deposition until after the resolution of Maxwell’s appeal to the Supreme Court. That appeal is expected to be resolved in late September.

Comer wrote that while Maxwell’s testimony was “vital” to the Republican-led investigation into Epstein, the committee would not provide immunity or any questions in advance of her testimony.