Florida judge makes things worse for Trump regarding the Epstein-case fiasco: “The court’s hands are tied”
Florida – A federal judge in Florida has turned down a request from the Trump-era Department of Justice to make public the grand jury transcripts from the state’s earlier investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. This is a big step forward in the ongoing scrutiny of how the case was handled. The decision was made on Wednesday, the same day that new pressure was put on former President Donald Trump and his administration, including a congressional motion to get more papers relating to Epstein.
The DOJ’s request, filed just recently, sought to release grand jury materials and transfer the matter to New York, where Epstein had faced federal charges in 2019. The department said that making the transcripts available to the public will help clear up doubts about Epstein’s prosecution and network. But U.S. District Judge Robin L. Rosenberg, who is in charge of the case, turned down that motion because of long-standing legal protections for grand jury secrecy.
Judge Rosenberg said in her decision that the court couldn’t release the materials because the DOJ hadn’t shown that the transcripts were needed for a court case. Rosenberg wrote, “The court’s hands are tied,” stressing that grand jury information can only be made public in extremely limited situations, none of which, she noted, applied in this case.
This legal defeat for Trump’s former DOJ comes after his political base has grown more upset, with many of them calling for the release of Epstein’s so-called “client list” and any papers that would connect prominent individuals to the disgraced financier. The Wall Street Journal reported that the Justice Department told Trump during a meeting in May that his name appears many times in sealed records related to Epstein. This added to the pressure. The report made it clear that this doesn’t mean anything improper, but it added to the calls for greater transparency.
Earlier this year, Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi made public pledges to release additional Epstein documents. Bondi even gave conservative media figures in the White House binders with the words “Epstein Files: Phase 1” on them. In a document on July 6, though, the FBI and DOJ said they would not be releasing any more material. Trump then called discussion of a client list “a hoax,” which upset some of his followers who felt misled by what they saw as a change of heart.
On Wednesday, the situation got even more politically charged when a subcommittee of the House Oversight Committee voted to submit a subpoena to the Department of Justice for more data related to Epstein’s conviction. Representative Clay Higgins, chair of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, confirmed the move but said there was no set timeline for when the subpoenas would be formally issued.
Even though the Florida court said no, the DOJ may still have a way to move forward. Legal experts say that federal courts in New York, where Epstein was indicted and much of the case was handled, usually don’t have as strict of a position on making grand jury records public. But any ruling by courts there is likely to take weeks.
Judge Rosenberg did tell the DOJ to make a new public docket to show that she denied their request. This is an unusual move gesture aimed at transparency. Still, there are a lot of issues that haven’t been answered yet as legal, political, and public interest in Epstein’s legacy-and those who may be related to it-grows.
