The Department of Justice spent years blocking the release of Jeffrey Epstein documents.
They had plenty of excuses for why Americans couldn't see what really happened.
But one Florida judge’s order just exposed what the DOJ was hiding about Jeffrey Epstein.
Judge overrides grand jury secrecy after Trump signs new law
A federal judge in Florida ordered the unsealing of grand jury transcripts from the original Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation on Friday.
U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith granted the Justice Department's request to release materials from 2005 and 2007 grand jury proceedings that investigated Epstein's abuse of underage girls at his Palm Beach mansion.¹
Smith ruled that the Epstein Files Transparency Act — which President Trump signed into law on November 19 — overrides the traditional secrecy of grand jury materials.
"The Act applies to unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials that relate to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell," Smith wrote. "Consequently, the later-enacted and specific language of the Act trumps Rule 6's prohibition on disclosure."²
https://twitter.com/annepmitchell/status/1997020670312775710?s=20
The ruling came just weeks before the December 19 deadline Congress set for the DOJ to begin releasing all Epstein-related files.
This marks the first time a judge has approved unsealing these specific Florida transcripts after the DOJ previously tried and failed to get them released earlier this year.
Back in August, Smith denied a similar request because federal law generally requires grand jury proceedings to remain secret.
But Trump's signature on the transparency law changed everything.
The House passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in a stunning 427-1 vote on November 18, with only Republican Representative Clay Higgins voting against it.³
The Senate approved it by unanimous consent the next day.
DOJ tried to bury the Epstein investigation for good
The Justice Department didn't want any of this information to see the light of day.
In July 2025, the DOJ and FBI issued an unsigned memo declaring they had reviewed all evidence against Epstein and Maxwell and that no other people would be charged.⁴
The memo stated there was no "client list," no evidence Epstein blackmailed powerful figures, and no grounds to investigate any "uncharged third parties."
Translation: case closed, move along, nothing to see here.
That memo triggered furious public blowback from Americans who demanded to know what the government was hiding.
The DOJ moved to unseal the transcripts only after receiving that backlash — but judges initially rejected the requests because of strict grand jury secrecy laws.
Now Trump's new law has blown past those obstacles.
Federal prosecutors in Florida had prepared a 60-count indictment against Epstein in 2007 that would have sent him to prison for decades.⁵
Instead, then-U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta — who later served as Trump's Labor Secretary — cut a sweetheart deal that let Epstein plead guilty to state prostitution charges involving a single victim.
https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/1997127604172640424?s=20
Epstein served just 13 months in county jail on a work release program that allowed him to spend most days at his office.
The non-prosecution agreement also granted immunity to Epstein's co-conspirators and was kept secret from his victims.⁶
A 2020 Justice Department investigation found Acosta exercised "poor judgment" in handling the case but stopped short of finding professional misconduct.⁷
The DOJ's own review concluded that "victims were not treated with the forthrightness and sensitivity expected by the Department."
That's government-speak for "we screwed over teenage girls to protect a politically connected millionaire."
What the transcripts will reveal
The grand jury transcripts will show exactly how strong the federal case against Epstein was before prosecutors abandoned it.
Palm Beach County released state grand jury transcripts under a Florida law last year that showed prosecutors called only two teenage victims and criticized their "lifestyles and choices."⁸
The federal transcripts will reveal what evidence the Justice Department compiled during its more extensive investigation.
Financial records, travel logs, flight lists, search warrants, police reports, and witness interviews could all become public under the court's order.⁹
Smith is one of three federal judges the DOJ asked to unseal grand jury materials in cases involving Epstein and Maxwell.
Two judges in New York are expected to rule next week on similar requests for transcripts from Epstein's 2019 sex trafficking case and Maxwell's 2020 prosecution.
Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted of sex trafficking charges.
She was Epstein's longtime confidante and helped recruit underage girls for abuse.
https://twitter.com/RepThomasMassie/status/1997070108829585532?s=20
House Democrats on the Oversight Committee have been releasing thousands of pages of documents from Epstein's estate, including emails that referenced prominent figures.
On Wednesday, they released photographs from inside Epstein's private island home in the U.S. Virgin Islands showing the word "power" written in chalk on walls and masks of men's faces in a dental suite.¹⁰
The full scope of what will be released remains unclear.
The Epstein Files Transparency Act gives the Justice Department authority to withhold files that could jeopardize active investigations or contain classified information related to national defense or foreign policy.
But Attorney General Pam Bondi has until December 19 to start making files public.
Trump also ordered Bondi to launch an investigation into Epstein's associations with prominent Democrats including former President Bill Clinton and former Harvard President Larry Summers.¹¹
The DOJ will work with prosecutors to redact victim names and personal identifying information before releasing the transcripts.
But after years of the government hiding behind grand jury secrecy rules and claiming there was nothing left to investigate, Americans will finally see what federal prosecutors knew about Epstein's sex trafficking ring before they let him walk away with a slap on the wrist.
The transparency Trump promised is happening whether the DOJ likes it or not.
¹ Frank Kopylov, "Florida judge orders release of Jeffrey Epstein grand jury transcripts," Florida News, December 5, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ "Epstein Files Transparency Act," Wikipedia, accessed December 8, 2025.
⁴ Gary Grumbach, Tom Winter and Dareh Gregorian, "Judge orders Jeffrey Epstein-related grand jury records in Florida to be released publicly," NBC News, December 5, 2025.
⁵ "Investigation into the," U.S. Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility, 2020.
⁶ Ibid.
⁷ Kevin Breuninger, "DOJ says ex-prosecutor Acosta showed poor judgment in 2007 sweetheart deal with sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein," CNBC, November 12, 2020.
⁸ "Federal judge in Florida clears way to release secret Jeffrey Epstein grand jury transcripts," WPBF, December 6, 2025.
⁹ Kara Scannell, "Federal judge in Florida orders unsealing of grand jury transcripts and records in Epstein probe," CNN, December 5, 2025.
¹⁰ Ryan Mancini, "Judge orders Epstein investigation transcripts released in Florida," The Hill, December 5, 2025.
¹¹ Ibid.
