Movement seems to be happening in the releasing of grand jury records related to the DOJ's (Justice Department) investigation and prosecution of sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, in the wake of new legislation passing, then being signed into law by President Trump.
As RedState previously wrote, Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act of 2025 in mid-November, taking away a cherished narrative of the Left against the Trump administration and putting in place a law stating that all unclassified documents in the cases must be expeditiously made public. More on that in a minute,
On Thursday, as my colleague Rusty Weiss wrote, the Democrats ended up with egg all over their faces, when they made a big deal over releasing what they claimed were "'never-before-seen' photos and videos of Jeffrey Epstein's private island," that were previously shared in an investigative report by James O'Keefe/O’Keefe Media Group. Later in Nov., the Dems did more sputtering with a new debunked claim on a connection between Pres. Trump and the late convicted sex offender.
The DOJ requested in both New York and Florida that the courts allow it to share the transcripts and other documents with the American people, something which, up to now, has been rejected:
Federal judges in Florida and New York previously refused to release the material, saying it would violate grand jury rules, but passage of the transparency law has now changed that calculus in Florida.
As part of the earlier requests, judges said the contents that would be unsealed likely contained no new evidence.
Now, a Florida federal judge has granted the request, issuing an order for the documents in the cases to be unsealed on Friday:
A federal judge in Florida granted the Justice Department’s request on Friday to unseal grand jury transcripts related to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, citing a new federal transparency law.
Judge Rodney Smith found that the Epstein Files Transparency Act of 2025 overrode the secrecy requirements of federal grand jury rules. The law, signed by President Donald Trump on Nov. 19, requires the attorney general to make public all unclassified DOJ records connected to Epstein and Maxwell.
While this move by the judge in Florida is a step forward, other requests for Epstein-Maxwell case documents to be unsealed are still pending in NY, Fox News reported in the story linked above, adding that the Justice Department can decide how and when it will release the transcripts and other materials from the Sunshine state cases. The new law requires their release within the next 30 days. Stay tuned!