In a scathing rebuke, a federal judge dismissed the Trump administration’s push to unseal Epstein grand jury transcripts, branding the effort a baseless diversion from the trove of documents already buried in DOJ vaults.
On August 20, 2025, U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman in Manhattan rejected the Justice Department’s motion to unseal approximately 70 pages of grand jury materials from Jeffrey Epstein’s 2019 sex-trafficking indictment. The transcripts, primarily featuring testimony from a single FBI agent lacking direct knowledge, along with exhibits like a PowerPoint and call logs, offered little new insight.
Berman’s 14-page ruling emphasized that the materials “pale in comparison” to the hundreds of thousands of pages of investigative files already held by the DOJ. He called the unsealing request a “diversion” from the government’s vast holdings, noting the DOJ as the “logical party” for comprehensive disclosure. The judge also criticized inadequate victim notification, warning of potential privacy threats.
This marked the third denial: earlier rulings by Judges Paul Engelmayer (Maxwell case) and Robin Rosenberg (Florida probe) similarly upheld grand jury secrecy under federal rules, finding no extraordinary exceptions.
The motions stemmed from backlash after a July 2025 DOJ memo declared no further releases, fueling demands from Trump’s base and lawmakers. President Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek transcripts amid conspiracy theories, but judges ruled the public interest insufficient to override secrecy.
Later, the Epstein Files Transparency Act—signed by Trump in November 2025—mandated broader releases, leading to partial disclosures in December, including some grand jury materials after renewed motions. Yet Berman’s pre-act rebuke highlighted perceived deflection, underscoring tensions over transparency in Epstein’s elite-linked scandal.
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