Judge declines to release grand jury documents from the criminal probe into Jeffrey Epstein

A Florida federal judge on Wednesday declined to release additional grand jury documents from the criminal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, marking the first roadblock in the Justice Department’s efforts to quell the public backlash over the handling of the case.

A Florida federal judge on Wednesday declined to release additional grand jury documents from the criminal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, marking the first roadblock in the Justice Department’s efforts to quell the public backlash over the handling of the case. Judge Robin Rosenberg said in her ruling that because the Justice Department had requested the sealed evidence be released due to “extensive public interest” and not as part of a judicial proceeding – the standard usually applied by judges in such cases – her “hands are tied.” Facing intensifying criticism from bipartisan lawmakers and members of the public, including some of Donald Trump most ardent supporters, the president last week called for Attorney General Pam Bondi to file court motions pursuing the release of the heretofore secret evidence. The grand jury testimony that the department seeks to release, however, is only a small portion of the thousands of documents related to the Epstein investigation and criminal case. Many of those documents are already in Justice Department custody and may not have been presented to the jury. Because the grand jury docket is still under seal, Rosenberg ordered that a new case should be opened as “a matter of public interest” with both the Justice Department’s request and her denial order. The department said in a memo earlier this month that it does not plan to release any new documents in the matter. The memo also said that there was no evidence that Epstein had a list of powerful men who participated in his alleged underworld of sex trafficking and pedophilia, and that Epstein was not murdered in his New York jail cell.