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

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Guardian

Wed 23 Jul 2025 14.42 EDT
First published on Wed 23 Jul 2025 14.33 EDT


A US judge on Wednesday denied a justice department bid to unseal grand jury transcripts related to the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in south Florida.

The move is the first ruling in a series of attempts to release more information on the case by Donald Trump’s administration, which is mired in a scandal over the US president’s previous links to Epstein that has rocked his Maga base. The request stemmed from federal investigations into Epstein in 2005 and 2007, according to court documents.

The justice department has pending requests to unseal transcripts in Manhattan federal court related to a later indictment brought against Epstein and his former associate Ghislaine Maxwell. US district judge Robin Rosenberg found that the department’s request in Florida did not fall into any of the exceptions to rules requiring grand jury material be kept secret.

Rosenberg wrote that the court’s “hands are tied” and said the government had not requested the grand jury’s findings for use in a judicial proceeding, pointing out that district courts in the US are largely prohibited from unsealing grand jury testimony except in very narrow circumstances.

More details soon …


Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/23/trump-jeffrey-epstein-jury-transcripts

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Article updated.

Original article/headline -

US judge rejects Trump's bid to unseal Epstein grand jury transcripts

Wed 23 Jul 2025 14.33 EDT
Last modified on Wed 23 Jul 2025 14.34 EDT


A US judge on Wednesday denied a justice department bid to unseal grand jury transcripts related to the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in south Florida.

The move is the first ruling in a series of attempts to release more information on the case by Donald Trump’s administration, which is mired in a scandal over the US president’s previous links to Epstein that has rocked his Maga base.

More details soon …

[Raftergirl]

1. Well duh.

[Nictuku]

2. Of course the Court Rejected it - Now TSF can blame it all on the Courts

That was why he did it.

[ImNotGod]

3. I think this is what tRump hoped for so he can say to his brainless masses, well, I tried. nt

[CousinIT]

4. Trump admin: "Well, we tried!!

And they hope that will be the end of it. That's the ruse.

[Marie Marie]

5. Oh Nooooo. Trump must be so disappointed. He tried so hard to get

these minuscule amount of narrowly focused facts out to those crying for transparency. Well, better luck with Ms Maxwell, after Trump's lawyer gives her the script she needs to memorize for her pardon.

[Delphinus]

6. Machinations

Every step of it.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

7. Deadline: Legal Blog--Judges deem Trump motions to unseal Epstein, Maxwell grand jury transcripts inadequate

There are statutory requirements for release of grand jury material. The trump motion did NOT pretend to address these requirements or meet requirements such as notifying the victims. The motion filed was so deficient that it has to be refiled

But the judges gave the Trump DOJ the chance to do better by July 29. Maxwell, an Epstein representative and the victims can weigh in, too.

Judges deem Trump motions to unseal Epstein and Maxwell grand jury transcripts inadequate share.google/zSxZZcvYbSRb...

— SherryRN @pissedoffnurse (@sherryll.bsky.social) 2025-07-23T18:31:37.090Z

https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/epstein-grand-jury-transcripts-maxwell-trump-motions-judges-rcna220298

Two federal judges sent a message to the Trump administration about its attempt to unseal grand jury transcripts related to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell: Try again.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche had filed unsealing motions on both the Epstein and Maxwell dockets amid the political backlash President Donald Trump has faced for his administration’s refusal to make public all Epstein-related materials as promised......

The orders sending Blanche back to the drawing board on Tuesday came from U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer, an Obama appointee who’s presiding over the Maxwell docket, and U.S. District Judge Richard Berman, a Clinton appointee who’s handling the Epstein docket. Both judges are in the Southern District of New York, where Maxwell and Epstein were charged. The orders are similarly worded; you can read the Maxwell one here and the Epstein one here.

Both orders say that the judges intend to resolve the unsealing motions “expeditiously” but that Blanche’s filings were inadequate. The judges gave the DOJ a week, until July 29, to file a more detailed memorandum making the case for unsealing.

Among other things, the judges said the DOJ has to say in the memorandum whether it reviewed the grand jury transcripts in question before making the requests and whether victims were notified.

Both judges were pissed at the crappy job done by the DOJ. Here are links to the two orders
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612.789.0.pdf
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.518649/gov.uscourts.nysd.518649.63.0.pdf

[Polybius]

8. Supposedly, a huge amount of judges also have ties to Epstein

In addition to politicians.