A federal judge has denied the Trump administration’s attempt to unseal grand jury transcripts tied to Jeffrey Epstein’s 2000s-era criminal investigation in Florida, ruling the court lacks legal authority to grant the request.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg ruled against the Justice Department’s petition to release records from two federal grand juries convened in 2005 and 2007 in West Palm Beach. Those proceedings were part of an early federal investigation into Epstein, which ultimately resulted in a controversial plea deal allowing him to avoid federal charges and instead plead guilty to a state offense involving a minor.
The DOJ had argued that the release of the transcripts was justified due to overwhelming public interest and the fact that Epstein died in 2019. Prosecutors claimed the typical justifications for grand jury secrecy no longer applied.
But Rosenberg pointed to binding precedent from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which limits the power of district courts to unseal grand jury records outside of narrow exceptions. Florida falls within the 11th Circuit’s jurisdiction.
“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,” Rosenberg wrote in her decision.
She added that the kind of public interest exception the DOJ cited is recognized only in the 2nd and 7th Circuit Courts of Appeals — not the 11th. The 2nd Circuit includes New York, where Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell were later charged in separate federal cases.
In light of this, the DOJ had asked Rosenberg to transfer its petition to a federal court in Manhattan, where that exception might be considered valid. Rosenberg declined the request, ruling that the DOJ had not met the legal standard for transferring the case to another jurisdiction.
This decision applies only to the Florida proceedings. Two other DOJ requests to unseal grand jury records related to Epstein and Maxwell’s later prosecutions in New York remain pending.
The Trump administration filed the unsealing petitions last week after mounting criticism of its handling of Epstein-related records. Both President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi have faced public pressure over the DOJ’s delays in releasing materials connected to the long-running case.
