Grand jury transcripts from abandoned Epstein investigation in Florida ordered released

ORLANDO Fla AP A federal judge on Friday gave the Justice Department permission to release transcripts of a grand jury examination into Jeffrey Epstein s abuse of underage girls in Florida a scenario that ultimately ended without any federal charges being filed against the millionaire sex offender U S District Judge Rodney Smith reported a not long ago passed federal law ordering the release of records related to the cases overrode a federal rule prohibiting the release of matters before a grand jury The law signed last month by President Donald Trump compels the Justice Department FBI and federal prosecutors to release later this month the vast troves of material they have amassed during investigations into Epstein When the documents will be issued is unknown The authorities had petitioned the court for permission to include the usually secret grand jury records in the files they are required to make constituents under the new federal law known as the Epstein Files Transparency Act The Justice Department hasn t set a timetable for when it plans to start releasing information but the law set a deadline of Dec However the law also allows the Justice Department to withhold files that it says could jeopardize an evolving federal study That s also longstanding Justice Department protocol Files can also be withheld if they re determined to be classified or if they pertain to national defense or foreign framework One of the federal prosecutors on the Florida scenario did not answer a phone call Friday and the other declined to answer questions The Justice Department had requested the unsealing of documents from three Epstein-related separate cases the - Florida grand jury assessment into Epstein his sex trafficking circumstance in New York and Ghislaine Maxwell s sex trafficking situation also in New York The Florida request was approved Friday The New York requests are pending with the Justice Department facing a Monday deadline to make its final filing a response to submissions by casualties Epstein s estate and Maxwell s lawyers The judges in those matters have reported they plan to rule expeditiously