A federal judge on Wednesday rejected the Justice Department’s request to unseal Jeffrey Epstein documents.
US District Judge Richard Berman, a Clinton appointee, called the DOJ’s effort to unseal grand jury transcripts a “diversion.”
“A significant and compelling reason to reject the Government’s position in this litigation is that the Government has already undertaken a comprehensive investigation into the Epstein case and, not surprisingly, has assembled a “trove” of Epstein documents, interviews, and exhibits. And, the Government committed that it would share its Epstein investigation materials with the public,” the judge wrote in a 14-page opinion.
“The information contained in the Epstein grand jury transcripts pales in comparison to the Epstein investigation information and materials in the hands of the Department of Justice,” the judge wrote.
Berman is the third judge to deny the DOJ’s request to unseal and publicly release the Epstein documents.
As reported by CNN:
A federal judge said he would not unseal grand jury transcripts and evidence from the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein – rejecting the Justice Department’s request to make them public.
Judge Richard Berman said the Justice Department did not overcome long-standing precedent to keep grand jury materials sealed and noted that the information contained in the sealed materials is small relative to the entire investigation file already in DOJ’s hands.
“The information contained in the Epstein grand jury transcripts pales in comparison to the Epstein investigation information and materials in the hand of the Department of Justice,” the judge wrote.
Last month US Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche filed a motion asking three federal courts to release grand jury transcripts associated with the Epstein cases.
The court documents are related to the 2019 grand jury indictment charging Jeffrey Epstein with sex trafficking offenses and the June 2020 grand jury indictment of Ghislaine Maxwell with numerous offenses related to the trafficking and coercion of minors.
President Trump last month asked Bondi to produce all pertinent grand jury transcripts related to Jeffrey Epstein.
Two other federal courts have also declined to unseal the Jeffrey Epstein documents.
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