A Florida federal judge declined to release additional grand jury documents from the criminal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, marking the first roadblock in the Justice Department’s efforts to quell the public backlash over the handling of the case.

Florida

A Florida judge has denied a request from the U.S. Department of Justice to release grand jury documents from the 2005 and 2007 investigations into Jeffrey Epstein's alleged crimes in West Palm Beach. The judge cited legal restrictions in the 11th Circuit, stating there is no allowance for the release of such documents under current law. 

The Justice Department had sought the release of the documents in the public interest, but the judge indicated his hands were tied by the law. However, a similar request remains pending in New York, where a different legal standard may apply, potentially allowing for the release of related grand jury information from the Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell cases.

Judge denies DOJ request to release Epstein grand jury documents

The breaking news just in to CNN, a Florida judge has now denied a request from the Justice Department to release grand jury documents from the criminal case some 20 years ago of Jeffrey Epstein. Let's bring in CNN's Evan Perez. So what does this ruling mean for all of the folks who are calling for transparency on this case? Well it means that the documents that are related to this Florida grand jury, these are Florida grand juries in West Palm Beach in 2005 and 2007 that were investigating Epstein's alleged crimes in Florida. And if you remember, this ended up being part of a plea deal with state prosecutors that the U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta in Miami signed off on, which allowed him essentially to get a very, very sweetheart deal. And it allowed him to essentially get away with this until 2019 when he was actually prosecuted by the federal government in the Southern District of New York. So this only pertains to the grand jury in 2005-2007 in West Palm Beach and the judge said he cannot release it because under the law that governs this part of the country, the 11th Circuit, there is no allowance for the release of these documents. The Justice Department had requested that they be released as part of the public interest essentially. So the judge says, look, I can't, my hands are tied and I can't do that. However, this continues on because the Justice Department has a pending request for the courts in New York to release the grand jury information there. Now a lot of this is going to be duplicating documents, right? So presumably, if we get, if the judge in New York allows the release of this information, it will likely cover a lot of the things that were covered by this grand jury in Florida in 2005 and 2007. Perhaps not everything, but at least what it means is that we still are waiting for the judge in New York that oversaw the Epstein case to decide whether the grand jury transcripts in that case can be released. Would the legal standard be different? Because the judge in Florida is saying, because the DOJ asked the evidence to be released due to an extensive public interest, that's not sufficient. It was not as part of a judicial proceeding, etc. Would the judge in New York not be likely to come to that same conclusion? No, because it's a different circuit, it's a different set of law, a different precedent, a different standard that applies in that circuit. So it is possible still for these documents to be released under this public interest exception that the Justice Department is requesting. So again, that's for two requests that are pending. One in the Ghislaine Maxwell case and in the Epstein case.

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