Judge won't release grand jury transcripts in Jeffrey Epstein ex-girlfriend's Ghislaine Maxwell case
www.kbtx.com

... The decision was a blow to President Donald Trump, who had called for the release of transcripts as he seeks to dispel rumors and quell criticism about his long ago involvement with Epstein, who killed himself in jail in 2019. Trump campaigned on a promise to release files related to Epstein, but was met with criticism -- including from many of his own supporters -- when the small number of records released by his Justice Department lacked any real bombshells. ...

In his ruling, Engelmayer wrote that after privately reviewing the grand jury transcripts, anyone familiar with the evidence from Maxwell's 2021 sex trafficking trial would "learn next to nothing new" and "would come away feeling disappointed and misled." ..

If you can believe it, the Judge's opinion gets more critical after that. ...

More from the opinion...

... The best argument to release the transcripts might be that "doing so would expose as disingenuous the Government's public explanations for moving to unseal," Engelmayer wrote.

"A member of the public, appreciating that the Maxwell grand jury materials do not contribute anything to public knowledge, might conclude that the Government's motion for their unsealing was aimed not at transparency' but at diversion--" aimed not at full disclosure but at the illusion of such," he said. ...

Judge denies DOJ bid to unseal Ghislaine Maxwell grand jury records
www.nbcnews.com

... In his ruling, Engelmayer said that the government's submissions failed to prove its claim that the grand jury materials "contained undisclosed information of significant historical or public interest." He said that "with only very minor exceptions," the evidence from the Maxwell grand juries is "a matter of public record."

Engelmayer even pointed to the Trump administration's admission that much of the material "was made publicly available at [Maxwell's] trial or has otherwise been publicly reported through the public statements of victims and witnesses."

Thus, a member of the public familiar with the Maxwell trial who reviewed the grand jury materials that the DOJ proposed to unseal "would thus learn next to nothing new," the judge said. ...