A judge in the US has rejected a justice department bid to unseal grand jury materials related to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The US government had filed a motion to unseal grand jury transcripts related to the former financier, who took his own life while awaiting trial in 2019.
Material from grand juries is typically kept secret under US law, though exceptions can be made for a handful of reasons.
In a ruling issued on Wednesday, US District Judge Robin Rosenberg said the Justice Department’s request did not fall into any of these exceptions.
The grand jury investigations into Epstein were held in Florida in 2005 and 2007, according to a court document.
In 2007, prosecutors agreed not to bring federal charges against Epstein in exchange for him agreeing to plead guilty to state charges of solicitation of prostitution, for which he served 13 months in prison.
Last Friday, Donald Trump said attorney general Pam Bondi had been asked to release the transcripts because of “the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein”.
The Department of Justice said criminal cases against Epstein and his former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, were a matter of public interest.
The department previously said it had around 200 documents relating to Epstein and that the FBI had thousands more.
It is unknown how much of this is grand jury testimony.
Donald Trump had pledged to release the ‘Epstein files’ – and his U-turn has riled supporters. Pic: AP
The judge’s decision is the first ruling in a series of attempts by President Trump’s administration to release more information on the case amid calls by some in his MAGA support group for the full details of Epstein’s activities to be released.
Mr Trump has faced renewed scrutiny over his relationship with Epstein since his administration’s U-turn on the so-called ‘Epstein files’.
Read more:
All we know about the ‘friendship’
Trump denies writing birthday letter to Epstein
The MAGA movement had accused the Biden administration of suppressing the extent of Epstein’s crimes and Mr Trump pledged to release the files during his second presidential term.
But after a review of the evidence, the Justice Department said recently that no “further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted”.
