{"id":2473380,"date":"2025-08-11T13:59:02","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T17:59:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/obama-appointed-judge-blocks-trump-admin-request-to-unseal-ghislaine-maxwell-grand-jury-records\/"},"modified":"2025-08-11T13:59:50","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T17:59:50","slug":"obama-appointed-judge-blocks-trump-admin-request-to-unseal-ghislaine-maxwell-grand-jury-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/obama-appointed-judge-blocks-trump-admin-request-to-unseal-ghislaine-maxwell-grand-jury-records\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama-Appointed Judge Blocks Trump Admin Request to Unseal Ghislaine Maxwell Grand Jury Records"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/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-appointed-judge-blocks-trump-admin-request-to-unseal-ghislaine-maxwell-grand-jury-records%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=2473380&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 denied the Trump administrationS request to publicly release the grand jury transcripts from Ghislaine Maxwell&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-facebook-is-largest-online-recruitment-tool-for-human-traffickers\/\" title=\"Report: Facebook is largest online recruitment tool for human traffickers\">sex trafficking case<\/a>. The Department of Justice sought to make these transcripts public, along with those related to Jeffrey Epstein, aiming to provide new information about their crimes and investigations. However, U.S. District Court Judge Paul Engelmayer rejected the effort, stating that the transcripts do not contain significant or new details about Epstein&#8217;s or Maxwell&#8217;s offenses, nor about the government&#8217;s examination. He noted that the information the DOJ wished to release was minimal and did not reveal any unknown clients, methods, sources of wealth, or circumstances around Epstein&#8217;s death. Previous similar requests for Epstein-related grand jury transcripts were also denied by other judges. The ruling underscores the court&#8217;s position against disclosing these materials without compelling reasons.  <\/p>\n<div id=\"ld-4686-3758\"><\/div>\n<p><script>(function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:14832835450050406,size:[0, 0],id:\"ld-4686-3758\"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src=\"https:\/\/cdn2.decide.dev\/_js\/ajs.js\";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,\"script\",\"ld-ajs\");<\/script><\/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 Monday shot down the Trump administration&rsquo;s attempt to make the grand jury transcripts of Ghislaine Maxwell&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >sex trafficking case made public<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Department of Justice has been trying to make the grand jury transcripts of the cases of Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019 before the charges against him could go to trial, and co-conspirator <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/ghislaine-maxwell-cleared-trump-doj-interview-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ghislaine Maxwell<\/a>, who was convicted of sex trafficking in 2021, public.<\/p>\n<p>The quest for the materials began after the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/epsteins-butler-rules-suicide-brings-receipts-meeting-bill-clinton-aboard-lolita-express\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Justice Department<\/a> said it had no Epstein client list and would not disclose any further details it had about Epstein, triggering a firestorm of protest.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Paul Engelmayer rejected the Justice Department&rsquo;s effort to make public the transcripts of Maxwell&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-live-jack-smith-delivers-jan-6-grand-jury-indictment-moments-after-trump-claimed-it-was-directed-at-him\/\" title=\"LIVE: Jack Smith announces Jan. 6 indictment, following Trump&#039;s self-directed claim.\">grand jury sessions<\/a>, as noted by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/ghislaine-maxwell-grand-jury-unseal-denied\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CBS<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Justice Department had argued that special circumstances exist requiring the transcripts to be made public.<\/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;The Government&rsquo;s invocation of special circumstances, however, fails at the threshold,&rdquo; Engelmayer wrote in his <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612\/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612.809.0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ruling<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Its entire premise &mdash; that the Maxwell grand jury materials would bring to light meaningful new information about Epstein&rsquo;s and Maxwell&rsquo;s crimes, or the Government&rsquo;s investigation into them &mdash; is demonstrably false,&rdquo; he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>The ruling noted that the Justice Department had been asked to identify whatever new information it thought needed to be released.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The Government&rsquo;s submissions in response to the Court&rsquo;s orders were telling. They belied the Government&rsquo;s claim, in its motion to unseal, that the Maxwell grand jury materials contain significant, undisclosed information about Epstein&rsquo;s and Maxwell&rsquo;s crimes, or the investigation into them,&rdquo; he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>He said such things as the Justice Department wanted made public were &ldquo;scattered words, clauses, and occasional sentences,&rdquo; calling them &ldquo;few and far between.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The highlighted snippets supply, at most, tertiary details about the same conduct that was the focus of Maxwell&rsquo;s month-long trial,&rdquo; he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>The transcripts do not &ldquo;discuss or identify any client of Epstein&rsquo;s or Maxwell&rsquo;s. They do not reveal any heretofore unknown means or methods of Epstein&rsquo;s or Maxwell&rsquo;s crimes,&rdquo; Engelmayer wrote.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;They do not reveal new venues at which their crimes occurred. They do not reveal new sources of their wealth. They do not explore the circumstances of Epstein&rsquo;s death. They do not reveal the path of the Government&rsquo;s investigation,&rdquo; he wrote.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/defying-dem-allegations-trump-admin-pushes-multiple-judges-release-court-docs-epstein-maxwell\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Engelmayer<\/a> was appointed in 2011 after being nominated by former President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fjc.gov\/history\/judges\/engelmayer-paul-adam\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Barack Obama<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Previously, U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg rejected a Justice Department request to allow transcripts from 2005 and 2007 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/obama-judge-blocks-trumps-doj-unsealing-epstein-files-bombshell-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">grand juries<\/a> that investigated Epstein to be made public.<\/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 also appointed by Obama.<\/p>\n<p>A ruling on release of the transcripts in Epstein&rsquo;s 2019 trial has not yet taken place.<\/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 on Monday rejected the Trump administration&#8217;s effort to release the grand jury transcripts from Ghislaine Maxwell&#8217;s sex trafficking case. The Department of Justice had sought to make public the grand jury records related to Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019 before his trial, and Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021. This push followed DOJ statements denying possession of an Epstein client list and refusing to share further details, which sparked public outcry. U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer ruled against making Maxwell&#8217;s grand jury transcripts public, stating that the government failed to show any special circumstances warranting disclosure. He noted that the DOJ did not identify significant new information within the transcripts about Epstein or Maxwell&#8217;s crimes or investigations and described any revealed details as minor and already covered during Maxwell&#8217;s trial. The transcripts do not disclose unknown clients, methods, locations of crimes, sources of wealth, investigation paths, or information about Epstein&#8217;s death. Previously, another judge also denied a similar request regarding earlier Epstein grand jury materials; a decision on releasing transcripts from Epstein&#8217;s 2019 case is still pending<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2473381,"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\/08\/Ghislaine-Maxwell.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[41073,59533,50433,5315,32640],"class_list":["post-2473380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-ghislaine-maxwell","tag-grand-jury-records","tag-judge-2","tag-obama","tag-trump-administration"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Ghislaine-Maxwell.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2473380","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=2473380"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2473380\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2473384,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2473380\/revisions\/2473384"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2473381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2473380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2473380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2473380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}