US federal Judge orders release of confidential highly classified reports related to Epstein scandal investigations

A federal judge Friday ordered the release of grand jury transcripts in a Florida investigation into the late Jeffrey Epstein, who is accused of sex trafficking.

The Justice Department requested the declassification of the minutes after US President Donald Trump last month signed a law ordering the release of all government records related to Epstein.

Grand jury proceedings are usually kept secret, and the Justice Department’s request to declassify the transcripts of Epstein’s Florida case has previously been denied.

But Judge Rodney Smith said in a brief decision Friday that the Epstein Transparency Act requires its publication.

In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to soliciting a minor into prostitution.

Epstein was arrested again in 2019 in New York on charges of sex trafficking of minors, was found dead, possibly committed suicide or it looked like so, in his cell the same year before his trial.

The Justice Department is also seeking to release grand jury transcripts in the New York case and the case of his partner, Gillian Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for recruiting minors for Epstein.

For months, Trump, who was a close friend of Epstein, opposed the release of case documents held by the Justice Department.

But on November 19, he bowed to pressure from Congress and his Republican Party, and signed a law requiring publication.

The law requires the Justice Department to release within 30 days the unclassified documents in its possession, the FBI and the prosecutors in the Epstein and Maxwell cases.

For years, Trump and his allies have promoted theories about covering up the involvement of influential Democrats in the Epstein case.

In July, the Justice Department and the FBI sparked political controversy by issuing a memo stating that after a thorough review of Epstein’s files, no evidence emerged that warranted further investigation.