A U.S. federal judge on Wednesday rejected the Trump administration’s request to unseal secret grand jury transcripts tied to early investigations of Jeffrey Epstein in South Florida.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg marks the first decision in a series of legal efforts to release more information about Epstein’s past. Rosenberg stated that the request failed to meet the limited exceptions allowed under grand jury secrecy laws.
“Eleventh Circuit law does not permit this court to grant the government’s request,” she wrote. “The court’s hands are tied – a point that the Government concedes.”
The Justice Department’s motion, filed last Friday, sought access to transcripts from federal probes into Epstein in 2005 and 2007. But the court found that the government hadn’t requested the records for any active judicial proceeding — one of the few conditions that would permit disclosure.
The move follows recent backlash from Trump’s supporters and conservative media after the Justice Department announced it would not release any further Epstein-related files, despite earlier promises from President Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Epstein, a disgraced financier and convicted sex offender, died in 2019 in jail while awaiting trial. His former associate Ghislaine Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking.
Although the Florida court has shut down this request, additional motions to unseal Epstein-related records remain pending in Manhattan federal court, where Epstein was later indicted.