Judge denies Justice Department request to unseal Epstein grand jury transcripts

NEW YORK -- A national justice who presided implicit the enactment trafficking lawsuit against financier Jeffrey Epstein has rejected the government's petition to unseal expansive assemblage transcripts.

The ruling Wednesday by national Judge Richard Berman successful Manhattan came aft the justice presiding implicit the lawsuit against British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's erstwhile girlfriend, besides turned down the government's request.

Barring reversal connected appeal, Berman's determination forecloses the anticipation of expansive assemblage grounds being released fixed that different judges who received the aforesaid Justice Department petition reached the aforesaid conclusions. The tribunal opinions magnitude to a corporate repudiation of the department's effort to divert attraction distant from its stated refusal to merchandise a monolithic trove of records successful its ain possession and marque wide that the still-sealed tribunal documents incorporate nary of the answers apt to fulfill the immense nationalist involvement successful the case.

A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment.

Berman said the accusation contained successful the Epstein expansive assemblage transcripts "pales successful examination to the Epstein investigative accusation and materials successful the hands of the Department of Justice."

The Justice Department had informed Berman that the lone witnesser to attest earlier the Epstein expansive assemblage was an FBI cause who, the justice noted, "had nary nonstop cognition of the facts of the lawsuit and whose grounds was mostly hearsay."

The cause testified implicit 2 days, connected June 18, 2019, and July 2, 2019. The full transcript was 70 pages. The remainder of the expansive assemblage presumption consisted of a PowerPoint slideshow shown during the June 18 league and a telephone log shown during the July 2 session, which ended with expansive jurors voting to indict Epstein. Both of those volition besides stay sealed, Berman ruled.

Maxwell is serving a 20-year situation condemnation aft her condemnation connected enactment trafficking charges for helping Epstein sexually maltreatment girls and young women. She was precocious transferred from a situation successful Florida to a situation campy successful Texas. Epstein died successful jailhouse awaiting trial.

Maxwell's lawsuit has been the taxable of heightened nationalist absorption since an outcry implicit the Justice Department's connection past period saying that it would not beryllium releasing immoderate further documents from the Epstein enactment trafficking investigation. The determination infuriated online sleuths, conspiracy theorists and elements of President Donald Trump's basal who had hoped to spot impervious of a authorities cover-up.

Since then, Trump medication officials person tried to formed themselves arsenic promoting transparency successful the case, including by requesting from courts the unsealing of expansive assemblage transcripts.

"The authorities is the logical enactment to marque broad disclosure to the nationalist of the Epstein file," Berman wrote successful an evident notation to the Justice Department's refusal to merchandise further records connected its ain portion simultaneously moving to unseal expansive assemblage transcripts.

"By comparison," helium added, "the instant expansive assemblage question appears to beryllium a 'diversion' from the breadth and scope of the Epstein files successful the Government's possession. The expansive assemblage grounds is simply a hearsay snippet of Jeffrey Epstein's alleged conduct."

Meanwhile, Maxwell was interviewed astatine a Florida courthouse weeks agone by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and the House Oversight Committee had besides said that it wanted to talk with Maxwell. Her lawyers said they would beryllium unfastened to an interrogation but lone if the sheet were to guarantee immunity from prosecution.

In a missive Maxwell's lawyers, Rep. James Comer, the committee chair, wrote that the committee was consenting to hold the deposition until aft the solution of Maxwell's entreaty to the Supreme Court. That entreaty is expected to beryllium resolved successful precocious September.

Comer wrote that portion Maxwell's grounds was "vital" to the Republican-led probe into Epstein, the committee would not supply immunity oregon immoderate questions successful beforehand of her testimony, arsenic was requested by her team.

____

Associated Press Writer Eric Tucker successful Washington contributed to this report.