Judge Refuses To Release Epstein Files, Says DOJ Should Do It Instead Of Legal ‘Diversion’

A Clinton-appointed federal judge on Wednesday denied the Trump administration’s request to unseal grand jury materials used to charge Jeffrey Epstein with sex trafficking, and instead said that the federal government is the ‘logical party’ to dump said ‘files.’

“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,” US District Judge Richard Berman wrote in a 14-page ruling, in which he said there is “clear precedent and sound purpose” for keeping the records under seal – and that the DOJ failed to show the Epstein papers demonstrate a “special circumstance” which would justify their release. 

You do it…

According to Berman, the government has already conducted a comprehensive investigation into Epstein, and has assembled a “trove” of documents, interviews and exhibits. In fact, the government has such a mountain of evidence outside of that case – records which “dwarf” the “70 odd pages” of grand jury materials, that Berman cited it as a “significant and compelling reason” to reject the request. 

“The Government is the logical party to make comprehensive disclosure to the public of the Epstein Files,” wrote Berman, adding “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.”

Berman’s ruling is the latest in a saga pitting Trump – a former Epstein associate whose previous AG Bill Barr ‘presided’ over the death of the disgraced pedophile. Barr’s father, who wrote pedo-centric short stories – hired Epstein to teach children at the Dalton school in the early 1970s when Barr Senior was headmaster. 

Were you aware that Bill Barr’s father wrote a book called “Space Relations” which described a planet where oligarchs engaged in child sex slavery? Seems like we should have been made aware of this. Don’t you guys think?!! pic.twitter.com/ttepCWTmuD

— American Artist April (@AmericanaApril) August 4, 2025

Continuing on – Trump has been acting super weird about Epstein since being asked about why he hasn’t released dead pedophile’s client list – something he promised to do on the campaign trail, and which firmly split the base after the president began saying things like ‘why are we still talking about Epstein?’ 

Making matters worse, the DOJ issued a joint memo last month insisting there’s no Epstein ‘client list,’ and that he definitely killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial for peddling children to – nobody? 

Then, realizing he’d made a yuge mistake, Trump directed AG Pam Bondi to seek the release of the grand jury files mentioned above – only for the judge to reply (paraphrasing); ‘Are you fucking kidding me? You guys have way more on Epstein than we do… you release it.’ 

Berman also smacked the DOJ around for failing to provide Epstein victims with sufficient notice before filing motions to unseal the grand jury material, calling it “another compelling reason not to unseal.”