"A federal judge in Florida ordered the release of grand jury transcripts from the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell sex-trafficking cases on Friday, citing the recently enacted federal law that overrides traditional secrecy protections. US district judge Rodney Smith ruled that the Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed into law last month by Donald Trump, overrode federal rules prohibiting the disclosure of grand jury materials."
"The Epstein Files Transparency Act, led by representatives Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie that passed through Congress in November, requires the justice department to release all unclassified records and investigative materials related to Epstein within 30 days of enactment, setting a 19 December deadline. The House passed the measure 427-1, with only congressman Clay Higgins of Louisiana voting against it. The Senate then approved it by unanimous consent."
US District Judge Rodney Smith approved the Justice Department’s request to unseal grand jury transcripts from the 2006-2007 federal grand jury investigation into Jeffrey Epstein in Florida, citing the Epstein Files Transparency Act. An earlier bid to release the same transcripts was denied by a different judge. The Justice Department has sought unsealing of materials from three separate Epstein-related investigations. Attention now turns to pending New York cases with a Monday deadline for Justice Department responses from victims, Epstein’s estate and Maxwell’s legal team. Two additional transcript requests remain pending in New York for Epstein’s 2019 and Maxwell’s 2021 prosecutions.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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