Two new developments unfolded Wednesday in the federal investigation of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein — one, a possible setback for the administration, and the other, a step that may lead to further revelations in the case.
A federal judge denied the Department of Justice’s request to unseal grand jury transcripts from investigations that led to Epstein’s original conviction as a sex offender. Obama-appointed U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg wrote in her opinion that this situation did not meet the criteria for the limited instances where a judge can legally release grand jury testimony.
“Eleventh Circuit law does not permit this Court to grant the Government’s request; the Court’s hands are tied—a point the Government itself concedes,” Rosenberg wrote.
The government appealed to a precedent from a 1997 court ruling, which says, “there are certain ‘special circumstances’ in which release of grand jury records is appropriate.” The public’s persistent and prevailing interest in Epstein’s case should warrant the records’ unsealing because it qualifies as one of the special circumstances enumerated in that ruling, the government argued.
However, the case the government cited was not decided by the Supreme Court; it was decided in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit and as a result, is binding precedent within that circuit.
“A district court is bound by the decisions of its intermediate appellate court,” Rosenberg wrote.
Precedent in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, however, upholds narrower standards for when grand jury transcripts can be unsealed, according to Rosenberg.
Meanwhile Wednesday, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer issued a subpoena to Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell “for a deposition to occur at Federal Correctional Institution Tallahassee on August 11,” according to a press release.
Maxwell aided the deceased Epstein, who died awaiting trial in 2019, in trafficking minor women and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Maxwell is serving her sentence while appealing her conviction to the Supreme Court.
After backlash over the administration’s handling of the Epstein investigation – where it seemed to indicate it would be releasing many more important case files to the public but ultimately decided that wouldn’t be “appropriate or warranted” – President Donald Trump directed the DOJ to request the unsealing of all pertinent grand jury testimony.
