Epstein bill requires Florida judge release grand jury transcripts, Bondi says

Milena Malaver, Miami Herald on Nov 22, 2025

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MIAMI — The Justice Department is again asking a South Florida judge to unseal grand jury transcripts from the original federal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, citing a bill passed this week by Congress directing the U.S. government to release all its case files involving the notorious sex trafficker.

“[T]he Department respectfully requests that the Court enter an order allowing the Department to publicly release the grand-jury materials in this case as well as lift any and all preexisting protective orders that would prevent the Department from complying with the Act,” states the motion, filed Friday with U.S. District Judge Robin L. Rosenberg.

The DOJ previously tried this summer to unseal the materials from the 2005 and 2007 grand jury proceedings, undertaken amid an investigation into whether Epstein was abusing young girls at his Palm Beach mansion. But Rosenberg rejected the request in July, noting that “the Court’s hands are tied” by the rules of grand jury secrecy — and that the government had failed to prove that the release of the material was necessary to address the intense public interest in the case.

That failed effort — launched amid backlash to an announcement by Attorney General Pam Bondi that there was nothing to be gleaned by releasing the government’s voluminous files into the late South Florida financier — ran parallel to pushes to release grand jury transcripts from investigations in New York in 2019 and 2020 into Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.

The New York judges also rejected the Justice Department’s request, citing privacy laws and the federal government’s ability to release the files in its possession.

But on Tuesday, Congress overwhelmingly passed — and President Donald Trump signed — the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The bill requires Bondi to release all unclassified Justice Department records connected to Epstein, Maxwell, their associates, related investigations, internal DOJ deliberations, flight logs, detention records and more.

The DOJ has 30 days to publish these materials, with only narrow exceptions for things like victim privacy and active investigations, according to the motion in the U.S. District Court of Southern Florida.

The DOJ says it is now legally required to release the grand jury transcripts — as long as sensitive information is appropriately redacted. Because of the tight, 30-day timeline imposed by the Act, the DOJ is asking the court for an expedited ruling.

It’s not known how much, if any, testimony was conducted in front of a federal grand jury in 2005 and 2007. The Florida federal investigation into Epstein never led to a grand jury indictment because Epstein’s lawyers negotiated a non-prosecution agreement that allowed the financier to escape federal charges by pleading guilty to minor charges in state court.

Epstein was arrested in 2019 following the Miami Herald’s Perversion of Justice investigation into his abuse of young girls and the federal government’s handling of his case. He killed himself in his Manhattan jail cell. Maxwell was later convicted on charges related to sex trafficking and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The DOJ’s request comes amid uncertainty about how the department will respond to the requirements of the Epstein bill that Trump just signed.

Trump has faced renewed scrutiny over his friendship with Epstein, which the president says he ended after learning Epstein was a “creep.” There’s not been any evidence that Trump was involved in Epstein’s crimes, but Trump’s name has appeared on Epstein’s phone logs, Epstein’s plane passenger lists and in Epstein’s phone directories, along with the names of other influential and wealthy people. Recently released emails held by Epstein’s estate show he frequently discussed Trump with the people around him.

Trump opposed the Epstein Files Transparency Act for months before flip-flopping last week and encouraging Congress to vote for it.

Bondi, though, insists everything will be done by the book.

“We will continue to follow the law with maximum transparency while protecting victims,” Bondi said at a Wednesday press conference.