A judge has rejected a Trump administration request to unseal transcripts from grand jury investigations of Jeffrey Epstein years ago in Florida

President Donald Trump has faced criticism over the refusal of the Department of Justice to release evidence about the notorious sex offender Epstein.

A Florida federal judge on Wednesday declined to release additional grand jury documents from the criminal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, marking the first roadblock in the Justice Department’s efforts to quell the public backlash over the handling of the case.

The Trump administration argued in its motion last week that “intense public scrutiny” should lead to transparency in the sex trafficking cases.

After facing untold scrutiny, much of it coming from Trump’s own MAGA base, Deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanche — who was also Trump’s former defense attorney — spent two days in Florida interviewing Epstein’s longtime accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

We don’t yet know the full story of the Trump administration’s sudden reluctance to release the Jeffrey Epstein files. Its reversal appears to have coincided with the president being told his name appeared in the files,

The controversy over Jeffrey Epstein rumbles on, despite President Trump’s efforts to put it behind him. It’s been almost three weeks since a joint, unsigned memo from the FBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ) insisted “no incriminating ‘client list’” had been found among material related to Epstein.

Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell is meeting with the DOJ for the second day as the department seeks the release of grand jury transcripts from the Epstein case. "We just ask that folks look at what she has to say with an open mind,