WASHINGTON, Dec 9 (Reuters) – A US judge on Tuesday granted a request from the Justice Department to make public grand jury documents in the case involving Jeffrey Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is in prison for sex trafficking.
In a written order, U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer said he would allow the documents to be released due to a recent law passed by Congress, the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
Engelmayer stated that he was creating a mechanism to protect victims from the inadvertent disclosure of materials that would identify them or otherwise invade their privacy.
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The order followed a similar one from a Florida judge on Friday that allowed the disclosure of documents in a case against Epstein.
The bill passed by the Republican-controlled Congress demands that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi release unclassified files related to the Epstein and Maxwell investigations.
President Donald Trump initially asked Republican lawmakers to oppose the measure, warning that the release of internal investigative records could set a precedent that he considered harmful to the presidency, according to two congressional aides. But he changed course after it became clear the bill had enough bipartisan support to pass with or without his support.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey, Katharine Jackson and Jan Wolfe)
