A federal judge on Wednesday denied a Department of Justice request to unseal grand jury transcripts related to a mid-2000s criminal investigation into sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Earlier this month, the Department of Justice (DOJ) petitioned a federal court in Florida to release the transcripts of testimony from witnesses who appeared before a grand jury in the first case against Epstein.
In a 12-page order on July 23, U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg denied the government’s petition to unseal those transcripts, adding that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit doesn’t permit her court to grant such a request.
She said that arguments brought by the DOJ were not sufficient to comply with an exception to the rules.
As Jack Phillips reports for The Epoch Times, the government had not requested the grand jury testimony for use in any judicial proceeding, Rosenberg wrote, saying that district courts are usually barred from unsealing grand jury testimony under most circumstances.
“Eleventh Circuit law does not permit this Court to grant the Government’s request; the Court’s hands are tied—a point the Government concedes,” the judge wrote.
The DOJ’s request stemmed from federal investigations into Epstein in 2005 and 2007, according to court papers.
Additionally, Misty Severi reports for JustTheNews that House Oversight Chairman James Comer on Wednesday officially issued a subpoena for Jeffrey Epstein's associate Ghislaine Maxwell to sit for a deposition next month.
The deposition will take place at the prison where Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year sentence for child sex trafficking and related offenses. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has said he will meet with Maxwell in the coming days too.
"I have issued a subpoena to Ghislaine Maxwell for a deposition to occur at Federal Correctional Institution Tallahassee on August 11, 2025," Comer said in a post on X.
" The Department of Justice is cooperating and will help facilitate the deposition at the prison."
The subpoena comes a day after a House Oversight subcommittee voted to issue the order.