US judge denies bid to unseal Epstein grand jury transcripts

A US judge has denied a bid by US President Donald Trump’s administration to unseal grand jury transcripts concerning the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in Florida in the 2000s.

US District Judge Robin Rosenberg found on Wednesday that the US Justice Department’s request failed to fall into any of the exceptions to rules requiring grand jury material be kept secret.

House panel votes to subpoena Justice Department for Epstein files

A House subcommittee, meanwhile, voted on Wednesday to subpoena the Department of Justice for files in the sex trafficking investigation into Epstein.

It came after Democrats successfully pushed Republican lawmakers to defy Trump and the party leadership and to support the action. Three Republicans on the panel voted with Democrats for the subpoena, sending it through on an 8-2 vote tally.

The motion passed just hours before the House was scheduled to end its July work session and depart Washington for a monthlong break.

Clay Higgins, the Republican subcommittee chairman, said that work was beginning to draft the subpoena but that it would take some time for both sides to work out the final language.

The move by Democrats showed how they were piling pressure to force Republicans to act on the Epstein files.

Why does Trump want to reveal more information on the Epstein case?

Trump is facing the biggest internal challenge in his second term in the White House as of yet as a result of the Epstein case.

His supporters from the MAGA (Make America Great Again) campaign have lashed out at the US president after the Justice Department closed the case two weeks ago, announcing there was no more information to share.

The July 7 memo declared that there was no Epstein “client list,” despite claims from Attorney General Pam Bondi that she was reviewing it. The memo affirmed that the disgraced sex offender did in fact die by suicide in his prison cell.

MAGA supporters have been told by their leaders for years that the “deep state” was hiding information in the Epstein case to protect Democratic Party figures they accuse of being Epstein’s clients. Some MAGA leaders have even fanned conspiracy theories suggesting Epstein did not die by suicide but was murdered by orders made by said clients.

Such conspiracies fueled a furious backlash from Trump’s MAGA supporters regarding the Justice Department’s decision to close the case, prompting the US president to authorize Bondi to release “credible” information on the case. Trump has also asked courts to unseal grand jury transcripts concerning Epstein.

What are Trump’s ties to Epstein?

All of this is happening against the backdrop of an increasing amount of reporting on Trump’s 15-year friendship with the late sex offender. Several pictures of the pair partying together document this relationship, which disintegrated in 2004 when they fell out over a property deal. At the time, Trump denounced his former ally.

The White House has been furiously refuting a report by the Wall Street Journal that suggests the US president had contributed a “bawdy” letter with his signature for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003.

Trump has sued the publication and its owner Rupert Murdoch over the report.

Also on Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Bondi in May notified Trump at a White House meeting that his name appeared multiple times in the Epstein files, citing senior administration officials. Trump was told that many other high-profile figures were also named.

The White House condemned the report as “fake news,” while Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said notifying Trump came “as part of our routine briefing.”

“Nothing in the files warranted further investigation or prosecution, and we have filed a motion in court to unseal the underlying grand jury transcripts,” Bondi and Blanche said.