Portrait of American financier Jeffrey Epstein, left, and Donald Trump as they pose together at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, in 1997.
Davidoff Studios Photography | Archive Photos | Getty Images
A federal judge on Wednesday refused to unseal grand jury materials in Jeffrey Epstein’s criminal case, while slamming the Trump administration’s request for those records as a “diversion” from the mountain of files on the notorious sex offender that the government has already compiled.
“A significant and compelling reason to reject” the request “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,” Judge Richard Berman wrote in a federal court ruling.
That trove of roughly 100,000 pages of files “dwarf[s] the 70 odd pages of Epstein grand jury materials,” Berman wrote.
The Trump administration does not need the courts to approve the release of its Epstein files, the judge wrote. He added that the administration had previously committed to publicly releasing those records, before reversing itself in July.
“The government is the logical party to make comprehensive disclosure to the public of the Epstein files,” Berman wrote.
“By comparison, the instant grand jury motion appears to be a ‘diversion’ from the breadth and scope of the Epstein files in the government’s possession.”
Berman is the third judge to reject the Trump administration’s requests to unseal Epstein-related grand jury materials from three separate cases.
A federal judge in Florida — where, in 2008, Epstein had pleaded guilty to a state charge of soliciting prostitution from a minor — ruled on July 23 that the law does not permit her court to grant the government’s request.
On Aug. 11, a New York federal judge also rejected the Department of Justice’s bid to unseal grand jury records in the criminal case of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s convicted procurer of young women.
That judge, Paul Engelmayer, blasted the Trump administration for pushing the “demonstrably false” premise that the grand jury materials would shed new light on Epstein’s and Maxwell’s crimes.
The DOJ in mid-July was directed to seek grand jury materials by President Donald Trump, who was under intense pressure from supporters and critics alike over his handling of the Epstein files.
Trump as a presidential candidate had promised to declassify those files. The DOJ in February touted what it called its “first phase” of declassification, while declaring its intent to release the remaining documents with appropriate redactions.
But that initial release contained virtually no new information. The FBI said in an unsigned memo on July 6 that the government has determined that “no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.”
Trump was friends with Epstein, but the two had a falling out years before the wealthy financier killed himself in a New York jail in 2019 while facing federal sex-trafficking charges.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., alleged last month that FBI personnel were instructed to “flag” any Epstein records mentioning Trump.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi told Trump in May that his name appeared in the Epstein files multiple times.
The Journal also reported that an album of letters compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003 included a “bawdy” message bearing Trump’s signature. Trump denied that report and filed a defamation lawsuit against the newspaper and Rupert Murdoch.