{"id":2465941,"date":"2025-07-23T20:10:02","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T00:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/obama-judge-blocks-trumps-doj-from-unsealing-epstein-files-bombshell-report\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T20:11:54","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T00:11:54","slug":"obama-judge-blocks-trumps-doj-from-unsealing-epstein-files-bombshell-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/obama-judge-blocks-trumps-doj-from-unsealing-epstein-files-bombshell-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama Judge Blocks Trump&#8217;s DOJ from Unsealing Epstein Files: Bombshell Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fobama-judge-blocks-trumps-doj-from-unsealing-epstein-files-bombshell-report%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2465941&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A federal judge has rejected the Trump management&#8217;s request to release grand jury transcripts related to Jeffrey Epstein&#8217;s investigations from 2005 and 2007. Despite President Trump&#8217;s directive to disclose these records following controversy over the Justice Department&#8217;s claim that no Epstein client list existed, the court ruled that current federal law does not allow the transcripts to be made public unless specific exceptions are met. The judge emphasized that the government&#8217;s arguments did not qualify under existing legal exceptions for unsealing grand jury materials. Additionally, the court denied the Justice Department&#8217;s request to transfer the case to another district. Other judges involved in related Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell cases similarly ruled that the government&#8217;s initial requests were insufficient for public release, noting that victims should have the chance to express their views. Maxwell&#8217;s attorneys&#8217; request for transcript access was also denied, with the judge citing established law that defendants generally cannot <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/doj-seeks-to-shield-trump-from-civil-jan-6-lawsuits\/\" title=\"DOJ seeks to shield Trump from civil Jan. 6 lawsuits\">access grand jury materials<\/a>. The Justice Department was given deadlines to clarify its position, provide full transcripts, and propose redactions to protect victims&#8217; privacy.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>A federal judge on Wednesday handed the Trump administration another setback in its effort to <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >make public grand jury transcripts related<\/a> to Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n<p>President Donald Trump last week directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek to have grand jury transcripts disclosed after a firestorm of anger erupted when the Justice Department said there was no Epstein client list, as Bondi said had existed.<\/p>\n<p>Judges overseeing the 2019 case pending against Epstein and the 2021 case against Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell on Tuesday resisted the Department of Justice&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/happening-bondi-moves-unseal-epstein-grand-jury-testimony\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">initial request<\/a> to make the transcripts public.<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Robin L. Rosenberg outright rejected a Justice Department request to allow transcripts from 2005 and 2007 grand juries that investigated Epstein to be made public, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national-security\/2025\/07\/23\/epstein-transcripts-florida-judge-justice-department\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Washington Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As noted by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2025\/07\/23\/jeffrey-esptein-grand-jury-doj-00471291\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Politico<\/a>, Rosenberg was appointed by former President Barack Obama.<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"stnvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\tdocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", function() { \t\t\t\t\tfunction loadScript(src) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst script=document.createElement(\"script\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.src=src; \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.async=true; \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.body.appendChild(script); \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\tfunction findPreviousParagraph(selector, x) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst targetElement=document.querySelector(selector); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!targetElement) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Target element not found.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Get all <\/p>\n<p> elements in order as they appear in the document \t\t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphs=Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(\"p\"));  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the index of the last <\/p>\n<p> before the target element \t\t\t\t\t\tlet targetIndex=paragraphs.findIndex(p=> p.compareDocumentPosition(targetElement) & Node.DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING);  \t\t\t\t\t\tif (targetIndex===-1 || targetIndex <x) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Not enough paragraphs before the target element.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\treturn paragraphs[targetIndex - x]; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Set up IntersectionObserver \t\t\t\t\tfunction observeElement(element) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!element) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst observer=new IntersectionObserver( \t\t\t\t\t\t\t(entries)=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tentries.forEach(entry=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tif (entry.isIntersecting) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(\"Paragraph is now visible:\", entry.target.textContent.trim()); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tloadScript(\"https:\/\/embed.sendtonews.com\/player3\/embedcode.js?fk=s28Az7AY\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.disconnect(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t}, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t{ threshold: 0.5 } \/\/ Adjust threshold as needed \t\t\t\t\t\t);  \t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.observe(element); \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the 1st paragraph before #stnvideo and observe it \t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphToObserve=findPreviousParagraph(\"#stnvideo\", 2); \t\t\t\t\tobserveElement(paragraphToObserve); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Eleventh Circuit law does not permit this Court to grant the Government&rsquo;s request; the Court&rsquo;s hands are tied-a point that the Government concedes,&rdquo; Rosenberg wrote in her <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.flsd.693993\/gov.uscourts.flsd.693993.4.0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ruling<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The Government&rsquo;s Petition to unseal the grand jury transcripts is not based on any of the exceptions&rdquo; outlined in the federal rules that can make grand jury transcripts public, she wrote.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The Government does not assert that disclosure is appropriate under any exception in Rule 6(e)(3)(E). Instead, it argues that special circumstances exist and that the policy reasons for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-court-rejects-trump-bid-to-shield-financial-records\/\" title=\"Supreme Court Rejects Trump Bid To Shield Financial Records\">grand jury secrecy<\/a> have expired,&rdquo; she wrote.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;However, the Government&rsquo;s stated rationale are not exceptions in Rule 6. The Court cannot grant a request for disclosure unless one of the five exceptions in Rule 6(e)(3)(E) applies,&rdquo; she wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Rosenberg also rejected the Justice Department&rsquo;s request to transfer the request to the Southern District of New York, where its other efforts to make transcripts public are in the courts.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The Court denies the Government&rsquo;s request for transfer for two reasons. The Court concludes that the Government must argue a potentially valid exception for the Court to consider a request for transfer of the Petition to another district, which the Government has not done. The Court also concludes that, in the alternative, the applicable standard for a transfer of the Petition to another district is not met in this case,&rdquo; she wrote.<\/p>\n<p>In very similar rulings, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/breaking-trump-orders-release-pertinent-epstein-grand-jury-testimony\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">judges<\/a> handling the 2019 Epstein case and 2021 Maxwell case said that the initial request from the Justice Department fell short of what was needed to make the records public, even with redactions.<\/p>\n<p>The Justice Department was given until July 29 to explain why it wanted the transcripts released and to provide the judges with the full transcripts, as well as to show how the Justice Department would like them released with redactions to address privacy concerns of the victims.<\/p>\n<p>The judges also noted that Epstein&rsquo;s victims deserve a chance to weigh in on their feelings about a potential release, and they set a deadline of August 5 for them to make their opinions known to the courts.<\/p>\n<p>Maxwell&rsquo;s attorneys indicated they wanted to get access to the transcript, but U.S. District Court Judge Paul Engelmayer shot that down on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It is black-letter law that defendants are generally not entitled to access grand jury materials,&rdquo; he wrote in his <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.nysd.539611\/gov.uscourts.nysd.539611.794.0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ruling<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>He rejected her attorneys&rsquo; claim that the information was needed to craft their reply as to her position on the potential release of the transcripts.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]]=document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display='block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src=firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id']=firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting=jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display='block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A federal judge dealt the Trump administration another defeat on Wednesday in its attempt to release grand jury transcripts connected to Jeffrey Epstein. Last week, President Donald Trump instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi to pursue the disclosure of these transcripts following public outrage after the Justice Department denied the existence of an Epstein client list that Bondi had previously mentioned. Judges overseeing Epstein&#8217;s 2019 case and Ghislaine Maxwell&#8217;s 2021 case opposed the Justice Department&#8217;s initial request to make the transcripts public. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Robin L. Rosenberg rejected the government&#8217;s petition to unseal grand jury transcripts from 2005 and 2007 investigations into Epstein, citing legal restrictions under Eleventh Circuit law and noting that none of the exceptions allowing disclosure applied. She also denied a request to transfer the matter to another district court in New York, stating that without a valid exception for release, such a transfer was unwarranted. Similarly, judges in related cases ruled that the Justice Department had not met requirements for public access even with redactions and set deadlines for further submissions and victim input on potential transcript releases. Additionally, Judge Paul Engelmayer refused Maxwell&#8217;s attorneys&#8217; request for access to these materials, affirming that defendants generally do not have rights to grand jury records<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2465942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Bondi-Court.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[7076,50433,5315,3634],"class_list":["post-2465941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-doj","tag-judge-2","tag-obama","tag-trump"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Bondi-Court.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2465941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2465941"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2465941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2465946,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2465941\/revisions\/2465946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2465942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2465941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2465941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2465941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}