NEW YORK: A Florida federal choose on Friday (Dec 5) cleared the Justice Division to launch grand jury transcripts from its intercourse trafficking case in opposition to Jeffrey Epstein, which might make clear the deceased financier’s ties to rich and powerful people together with President Donald Trump.
The Justice Division requested US District Choose Rodney Smith to unseal the data after the Republican-controlled Congress passed a bill requiring the Legal professional Basic to launch all unclassified recordsdata associated to its investigations of Epstein and his affiliate Ghislaine Maxwell, who’s in jail for intercourse trafficking.
Trump, who stated he ended his friendship with Epstein lengthy earlier than the financier’s 2019 arrest, had opposed the discharge of the recordsdata but reversed course shortly before lawmakers voted on the invoice, which he signed on Nov 19.
The recordsdata are eagerly sought by each Trump’s political opponents and members of his personal base who’ve pressed for higher transparency within the case.
Many Trump voters consider his administration has lined up Epstein’s ties to highly effective figures and obscured particulars surrounding his demise, which was dominated a suicide, in a Manhattan jail in 2019 as he confronted federal intercourse trafficking fees.
The scandal has been a thorn in Trump’s facet for months, partly as a result of he amplified conspiracy theories about Epstein to his personal supporters earlier than successful re-election in 2024.
Trump has extra not too long ago modified tack and stated the Epstein recordsdata are a Democratic hoax geared toward distracting from his administration’s accomplishments.
