A Florida federal judge has denied the Department of Justice’s request to release grand jury transcripts from the original criminal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.
Judge Robin L. Rosenberg of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, an Obama appointee, wrote in a Tuesday afternoon order that the court’s “hands are tied.”
The DOJ had been asking for the very first federal grand jury transcripts from the Epstein investigation, which opened in 2005. They were held in Florida, where the investigation began—and where the pedophile struck a sweetheart deal with prosecutors which saw him get a federal non-prosecution deal in return for pleading guilty to one count of soliciting an underage prostitute.
The DOJ had requested that Rosenberg unseal the transcripts after mounting pressure on the administration, which reversed course earlier this month by releasing a memo that claimed that the government had uncovered no new evidence about the sex offender.
The quick denial comes just one week after Attorney General Pam Bondi, on orders from President Trump, submitted three petitions relating to the government’s investigations into Epstein over two decades.
Bondi’s name was on the petition denied on Tuesday, along with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche—who is set to meet with imprisoned Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell about cooperating with the administration.
Judge Rosenberg ordered that the case in which the government filed its request, which opened in 2005, be closed and that a new case be opened so that the public could view her denial order.
The government had requested that the grand jury transcripts be unsealed—a rare occurrence in criminal cases—due to “the public’s strong interest in the historical investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.”
However, Rosenberg ruled that this rationale was insufficient to overcome higher court precedent, which severely limits the circumstances in which grand jury proceedings can be made public.
Rosenberg also denied a related request from the government to transfer its petition to the Southern District of New York, where the DOJ has two other pending cases relating to Epstein documents.
The administration is still waiting to hear back from those two other requests to release Epstein-related documents, one pertaining to the case that charged Epstein with sex trafficking offenses in 2019 and the other pertaining to the case that charged Maxwell with sex trafficking in 2020. Prosecutors dropped the New York case against Epstein after he died in jail.
It’s unclear when the other two petitions will be acted on. On Tuesday, a federal judge in New York cast doubt on whether he would rule in the government’s favor when he issued an order for the DOJ to elaborate on its petition to release the grand jury transcripts from the Maxwell case.
In that order, Judge Paul Engelmayer wrote that the government “did not adequately address” the factors a court must weigh when considering whether to disclose secret grand jury proceedings. He also indicated he would seek to resolve the matter “expeditiously.”
A spokesperson for the White House deferred to the Department of Justice, which did not respond to an immediate request for comment.
