A federal judge spectacularly denied the Trump administration request to release highly-secretive grand jury testimony from the Jeffrey Epstein case.
Judge Robin Rosenberg, appointed by former President Obama, denied the motion made by Attorney General Pam Bondi to open up the records concerning Jeffrey Epstein and his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.
This decision represents a setback for the administration, as supporters of Trump’s MAGA movement are pressing for full disclosure of the investigation details regarding the discredited financier and convicted sex offender.
The Justice Department under Trump asserted that the release of the documents is in the ‘interest of the public’ and sought to have the existing protective orders revoked.
Judge Rosenberg of the Southern District of Florida said that ‘the court’s hands are tied.’
She explained that district courts are prohibited from unsealing grand jury testimony except for in very specific circumstances. The judge also noted that the Trump administration did not request the grand jury’s testimony for use in a judicial proceeding
The DOJ also filed a motion in the case against Epstein’s longtime associate and friend Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving her sex trafficking sentence while also appealing her case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Republicans are separately subpoenaing Maxwell to appear for public testimony to provide more details on Epstein’s exploits.
President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi were handed a blow on Wednesday when their request for unsealing grand jury testimony in the Jeffrey Epstein case was denied. Pressure is still mounting on the administration to deliver on its key campaign promise to put out documents related to the disgraced pedophile
Judge Robin Rosenberg of the Southern District of Florida denied the Trump administration request to unseal grand jury testimony in the high profile case
According to an exclusive Daily Mail/JL Partners poll out Wednesday, the Epstein drama, although taking over the news cycle, is not impacting how Americans view the president.
Forty-nine percent of voters now approve of Trump’s job performance as president, up one point from the tracking survey conducted earlier in July.
But the pressure is still mounting on the administration to deliver on its key campaign promise to put out documents related to the disgraced pedophile.
Trump finally gave into the pressure on Thursday night when he instructed Bondi to make more materials public.
‘Based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval,’ he wrote on his Truth Social account.
Bondi started that process on Friday by filing with the Southern District of New York to unseal the highly-secretive grand jury court documents in the case.
The grand jury information is only a part of the evidence that makes up the so-called Epstein files.
Trump’s vow to unseal more information came after the Wall Street Journal published a 50th birthday card it said he allegedly sent to Epstein in 2003.
The president denies he wrote the letter and threatened to sue the publication.
The direction to unseal files came the same day that White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt revealed that Trump had no interest in appointing a special counsel to review the investigation.
In Friday’s filing there are no requests to unseal the search warrants, which are also at the center of the case, or any other documents that might yield more substantive details of the investigation.
DOJ insiders tell the Daily Mail they believe search warrants are a key to the case and could provide insight into why more evidence was not initially seized and why some evidence Americans are looking for may no longer exist.
Trump’s order to Bondi on Thursday suggests that his attorney general was not already authorized to ask the court to unseal the grand jury materials.
If done from the jump, the process could have been in motion months ago rather than just starting.
What it really means is that Americans may have to wait months or even years to get more answers – if they get them at all.
The unsealing of grand jury testimony presents a lot of obstacles and is perhaps one of the more difficult pieces of information to unseal in a case considering stringent secrecy rules that many courts are hesitant to lift.
The instruction to Bondi comes after the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Trump sent a birthday card to Epstein in 2003 that included a hand-drawn images of the outline of a naked women. Trump socialized with Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell (right) in the 1980s and 1990s
Trump instructed Thursday, July 17 that Bondi unseal grand jury testimony in the Epstein case
The WSJ reported on Thursday that Trump’s alleged birthday card to Epstein in 2003 featured a hand-drawn outline of a naked woman along with a signature ‘Donald.’
The typewritten message read: ‘Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.’
Trump is threatening a lawsuit against the newspaper and its owner Rupert Murdoch.
‘The Wall Street Journal printed a fake letter, supposedly to Epstein. These are not my words, not the way I talk,’ Trump posted to Truth Social. ‘Also, I don’t draw pictures.’
Trump said he told Murdoch the letter was a ‘scam,’ but that he printed the story anyway.
‘I’m going to sue his a** off,’ the president wrote.
It appears Trump is now fed up with the continued narrative around Epstein and the untiring demand – even from his base – for more to be released.
Earlier this month, the president repeatedly pleaded with his supporters to stop focusing on what he now calls the ‘Jeffrey Epstein hoax.’
He posted on Truth Social multiple times claiming the claims of a ‘client list’ and other conspiracies surrounding Epstein were made up by Democrats to stoke division in MAGA world.
