A judge in the US has rejected a justice department bid to unseal grand jury materials related to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The US government had filed a motion to unseal grand jury transcripts related to the former financier, who took his own life while awaiting trial in 2019.
Materials from grand juries are typically kept secret under US law, though exceptions can be made for a handful of reasons.
In a ruling issued on Wednesday, US District Judge Robin Rosenberg said the justice department’s request did not fall into any of these exceptions.
It comes as Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, has been officially subpoenaed to testify to the House Oversight Committee from prison.
The grand juries on Epstein were held in Florida in 2005 and 2007, according to a court document.
What is grand jury?
Grand juries assess evidence presented by prosecutors to decide whether there is “probable cause” to believe someone committed a crime, and if they should be put on trial.
A grand jury consists of 16 to 23 jurors and the proceedings are always carried out in private.
A juror can serve up to 24 months and they meet on a few set days each week or month to consider multiple cases.
If a jury decides there is enough evidence, an indictment – a court document setting out charges – will be issued against the suspect.
Under the US justice system, grand juries decide whether there is a criminal case against a person and whether they should be put on trial.
More on Jeffrey Epstein
Related Topics:
In 2007, prosecutors agreed not to bring federal charges against Epstein in exchange for him agreeing to plead guilty to state charges of solicitation of prostitution, for which he served 13 months in prison.
Last Friday, Donald Trump said attorney general Pam Bondi had been asked to release the transcripts because of “the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein”.
The Department of Justice said criminal cases against Epstein and Maxwell were a matter of public interest.
Image: Undated handout file photo issued by US Department of Justice of Ghislaine Maxwell with Jeffrey Epstein. Pic: PA
The department previously said it had around 200 documents relating to Epstein and that the FBI had thousands more.
It is unknown how much of this is grand jury testimony.
The judge’s decision is the first ruling in a series of attempts by President Trump’s administration to release more information on the case amid calls by some in his MAGA group of supporters for the full details of Epstein’s activities to be released.
Mr Trump has faced renewed scrutiny over his relationship with Epstein since his administration’s U-turn on the so-called “Epstein files”.
Image: Donald Trump had pledged to release the ‘Epstein files’ – and his U-turn has riled supporters. Pic: AP
The MAGA movement had accused the Biden administration of suppressing the extent of Epstein’s crimes and Mr Trump pledged to release the files during his second presidential term.
But after a review of the evidence, the justice department said recently that no “further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted”.
As pressure has grown for Mr Trump to act, there has been increased attention paid to claims he was friends with Epstein – a relationship he denies.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) last week published a story saying Mr Trump wrote a bawdy letter to Epstein to give him as a 50th birthday present in 2003.
Mr Trump responded by filing a lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch, who owns the WSJ, two WSJ reporters and the publication’s owner, News Corp, as well as saying the letter was a “fake”.
The summons for Ghislaine Maxwell from the House Oversight Committee is for a deposition to occur on 11 August.
Chairman of the committee, Republican James Comer said: “I have issued a subpoena to Ghislaine Maxwell for a deposition to occur at Federal Correctional Institution Tallahassee on August 11, 2025.
“The Department of Justice is cooperating and will help facilitate the deposition at the prison.”
Donald Trump has said he will cancel all executive orders that he claims were signed with an autopen by his predecessor Joe Biden.
The US president alleged Mr Biden was “not involved” in signing the orders and claimed “the radical left lunatics circling Biden around the beautiful Resolute Desk in the Oval Office took the presidency away from him”. He did not provide any evidence for his claims.
An autopen is a device which reproduces a person’s signature, allowing them to repeatedly sign documents without having to do so by hand each time.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said: “Any document signed by Sleepy Joe Biden with the Autopen, which was approximately 92% of them, is hereby terminated, and of no further force or effect.
“The Autopen is not allowed to be used if approval is not specifically given by the President of the United States.”
He added: “I am hereby cancelling all Executive Orders, and anything else that was not directly signed by Crooked Joe Biden, because the people who operated the Autopen did so illegally.
“Joe Biden was not involved in the Autopen process and, if he says he was, he will be brought up on charges of perjury.”
Mr Trump has repeatedly claimed Mr Biden was not mentally capable by the end of his term and his staff made decisions on his behalf, using an autopen to sign them off without his knowledge.
Mr Trump has not provided any evidence for his claims, while Mr Biden and his former aides have denied they made decisions on his behalf.
In June, Mr Biden said: “Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency.
“I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.”
Mr Trump has also used an autopen, but claimed he only used it “for very unimportant papers”.
Image: Pic: Reuters
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
0:31
Trump trolls Biden with new ‘presidential portrait’
Earlier this year, Mr Trump replaced a portrait of Mr Biden in the Oval Office with a picture of an autopen signing the former president’s name.
The suspect in the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington DC is facing a first-degree murder charge.
It follows the death of one of the soldiers, 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom.
The other soldier, Andrew Wolfe, 24, was taken to hospital in critical condition after the incident on Wednesday afternoon. On Friday, West Virginia’s governor said Wolfe remained in a “very critical condition”.
Image: Andrew Wolfe and Sarah Beckstrom. Pic: Reuters
US attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office said the suspect, 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, now faces charges including one count of first-degree murder, three counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence and two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed.
Pirro said there are “many charges to come” beyond the upgraded murder charge and that Lakanwal had driven across the country to launch an “ambush-style” attack with a revolver.
She said her heart went out to the family of Beckstrom, who volunteered to serve and “ended up being shot ambush-style on the cold streets of Washington DC by an individual who will now be charged with murder in the first degree”.
President Donald Trump called Beckstrom, part of the West Virginia guard, a “highly respected” and “magnificent person”.
More on Trump
Related Topics:
Investigators are continuing to execute warrants in the state of Washington, where the suspect lived, and other parts of the country, Pirro said.
However, she declined to discuss the suspect’s motive, saying officials have been working around the clock on that question.
Officials said Lakanwal entered the US in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden administration programme that evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the US’s chaotic withdrawal from the country.
Kristina Widman, who claims to be Lakanwal’s former landlord, said he had been living in Bellingham, close to Seattle, with his wife and five children.
The #AfghanEvac charity said Lakanwal applied for asylum during the Biden administration, but his asylum was approved under the Trump administration.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
2:44
Trump has called for every Afghan national who entered the US under Biden to be investigated following the shooting of two National Guard troops.
On Wednesday night, Trump called for the reinvestigation of all Afghan refugees who had entered under the Biden administration.
The director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph Edlow, said in a statement that the agency would take additional steps to screen people from 19 “high-risk” countries “to the maximum degree possible”.
Spotify
This content is provided by Spotify, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Spotify cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Spotify cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow Spotify cookies for this session only.
The President has since said he wants to “permanently pause migration” from poorer nations and is promising to seek to expel millions of immigrants from the US by revoking their legal status.
Organisations that work with refugees are worried that those who fled dangerous situations to start again in America will face a backlash after the shooting.
The US will review green cards issued to the citizens of 19 countries after two members of the National Guard were shot by a suspected Afghan gunman in Washington DC.
Joseph Edlow, director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), revealed the order from President Trump.
X
This content is provided by X, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable X cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to X cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow X cookies for this session only.
He wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “At the direction of @POTUS, I have directed a full scale, rigorous re-examination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern.”
Asked which countries would be affected, USCIS pointed to a presidential proclamation from June listing 19 countries.
The proclamation sought to “fully restrict” arrivals from Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
It also “partially” restricted arrivals from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
More on Donald Trump
Related Topics:
Image: Rahmanullah Lakanwal.
Pic: Reuters
Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, has been named as the suspected gunman in this week’s shooting and has been detained.
He worked as part of a CIA-backed unit in Afghanistan, and reportedly came to the States under a programme meant to help Afghans who’d risked their lives assisting US troops in Afghanistan.
He’s thought to have driven thousands of miles to the capital from his home in Washington state, where he lives with his wife and five children.
Attorney general Pam Bondi called him “a lone gunman” who “opened fire without provocation, ambush style”.
Image: Gunfire in Washington DC sees two National Guard members shot
President Trump described him as a “savage monster”.
He was granted asylum in April this year, according to NBC News.
One of his victims, 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, died of her wounds, while the other, Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains in a critical condition.
Image: The two National Guard members who were shot in Washington D.C. as 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom and 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe. Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
Lakanwal reportedly came to the US under Operation Allies Welcome, a programme enacted by former President Joe Biden after he pulled American forces out of Afghanistan in 2021.
Edlow explictly targeted the previous president as he announced the new green card regime.
He wrote on X: “The protection of this country and of the American people remains paramount, and the American people will not bear the cost of the prior administration’s reckless resettlement policies.”
Speaking after the attack, President Trump was even more caustic.
He said: “The suspect in custody is a foreigner, who entered our country from Afghanistan, a hellhole on Earth.
“He was flown in by the Biden administration in September 2021 on those infamous flights that everybody was talking about.
“His status was extended under legislation signed by President Biden – a disastrous president, the worst in the history of our country.”
Spotify
This content is provided by Spotify, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Spotify cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Spotify cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow Spotify cookies for this session only.
He continued: “This attack underscores the greatest national security threat facing our nation.
“The last administration let in 20 million unknown and unvetted foreigners from all over the world, from places that you don’t even want to know about.
“No country can tolerate such a risk to our very survival.”