The White House has expressed regret over a federal judge’s decision to deny the Trump administration’s request to unseal grand jury material regarding Ghislaine Maxwell.
“We think that decision is unfortunate,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday. “Of course, we moved to unseal that information because the president has said he wants to see credible evidence released.”
Leavitt demurred on whether the administration would appeal the decision of Judge Paul Engelmayer of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York regarding the grand jury transcripts and exhibits from Maxwell’s prosecution, which Engelmayer made on Monday.
“As for the appeal process, I would defer you to the Department of Justice for that,” Leavitt said.
Grand jury records are traditionally kept under seal, but the Trump administration had asked Engelmayer to unseal those regarding Maxwell amid pressure on the president and his aides to be transparent concerning Jeffrey Epstein and related matters.
“The Government’s invocation of special circumstances, however, fails at the threshold,” Engelmayer wrote in his 31-page order. “Its entire premise — that the Maxwell grand jury materials would bring to light meaningful new information about Epstein’s and Maxwell’s crimes, or the Government’s investigation into them — is demonstrably false.”
The same pressure, which started in February after Attorney General Pam Bondi overpromised and underdelivered regarding her release of the Epstein files, including his alleged client list, also resulted in Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche last month reinterviewing Maxwell. Her appearance before the House Oversight Committee has been postponed until at least September as the Supreme Court considers whether to hear her appeal of her 2021 conviction on sex trafficking and other charges.
A federal judge in Florida denied the Trump administration’s request last month to unseal grand jury material from Epstein’s prosecution, while a New York judge is still contemplating a similar request regarding different Epstein grand jury records.
Meanwhile, Democrats are continuing to criticize President Donald Trump and his aides for their management of the Epstein files, including in their response to the president’s decision this week to federalize Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department and National Guard.
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“Trump is a liar, a fraud, and a convicted felon who manufactures chaos and stokes fear in order to consolidate power,” Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin told reporters on Monday. “Trump’s continued misuse of the National Guard is nothing more than that of a feeble, weak old man desperate to show a sense of strength as he runs the country into the ground, protects sex traffickers, and destroys the American economy.”