Aug. 20 (UPI) — A federal judge in New York on Wednesday refused a Trump administration request to unseal particular grand jury documents related to the case of convicted sex-trafficking financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The White House in recent weeks has made attempts to quell public pressure with its bid to make grand jury proceedings public and for greater transparency.
“The information contained in the Epstein grand jury transcripts pales in comparison to the Epstein investigation information and materials in the hands of the Department of Justice,” said U.S. District Judge Richard Berman.
Manhattan’s Berman, an appointee of former U.S. President Bill Clinton, wrote in his 14-page ruling there existed “clear precedent and sound purpose” in the decision to keep grand jury documents under wraps.
He said the U.S. government failed to show how the requested Epstein records demonstrated any real “special circumstance” enough to release them.
On Wednesday, Berman added that the federal government was the “logical party” that’s responsibility was to “make comprehensive disclosure to the public” of the Epstein files.
“By comparison, the instant grand jury motion appears to be a ‘diversion’ from the breadth and scope of the Epstein files in the government’s possession,” the judge wrote.
On Tuesday, the House Oversight Committee revealed that it would release some reduced files related to Epstein’s case that has captured public fascination.
It comes as the committee deposed nine other depositions for looming testimony in the case by ex-President Joe Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland, President Donald Trump’s first Attorney General Jeff Sessions, former Barack Obama Attorney Generals Loretta Lynch and Eric Holder, and George W. Bush’s former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez.
In addition, the panel’s investigation will purportedly see testimony by former FBI Directors James Comey, Robert Mueller, former President Bill Clinton and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
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