A Democrat-aligned Manhattan federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s effort to unseal Jeffrey Epstein’s grand jury records.
The move is raising fresh concerns that Democrat judges are protecting their own.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Richard Berman, appointed by former President Bill Clinton, denied the Justice Department’s bid to make public grand jury testimony from Epstein’s 2019 sex-trafficking indictment.
The activist judge argues that the sealed material was far less significant than the broader trove of evidence in government hands.
“The Government’s 100,000 pages of Epstein files and materials dwarf the 70-odd pages of Epstein grand jury materials,” Berman wrote.
“The grand jury testimony is merely a hearsay snippet of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged conduct.”
Critics immediately noted Berman’s political ties.
Appointed by Clinton in 1998, the judge has a record of rulings aligned with Democratic interests.
His decision to block the release comes as Trump has accused Democrats of covering up Epstein’s network of elite connections, including individuals tied to the Clintons.
President Trump, who campaigned in 2024 on a promise to make Epstein-related files public, instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi in July to seek court approval to release the grand jury testimony.
The DOJ filed the request, but Berman rejected it, effectively keeping critical details under seal.
The Justice Department had acknowledged that the Epstein grand jury heard from just one witness, an FBI agent.
Nonetheless, Trump supporters view the decision as part of a broader pattern of stonewalling efforts to shine light on the scandal.
The ruling is the latest in a series of setbacks for Trump’s transparency push.
Earlier this month, Judge Paul Engelmayer, another Democrat-aligned Manhattan federal judge, also denied a request to unseal grand jury material in the case of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime associate.
Maxwell is now serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking.
In July, a Florida judge similarly rejected a bid to release grand jury records from Epstein’s earlier investigations in 2005 and 2007.
To many conservatives, the repeated denials suggest an orchestrated effort by the judiciary to protect powerful figures tied to Epstein.
His suspicious death in 2019, officially ruled a suicide, fueled speculation that influential individuals with links to Epstein wanted him silenced.
Trump, in contrast, has insisted the full truth must come out.
He blasted Democrats for hiding evidence and argued that releasing all Epstein files is essential for accountability.
The Justice Department’s refusal last month to release additional documents, including the much-discussed “client list,” drew heavy backlash from Trump’s base.
However, the move immediately provoked anti-Trump Democrats to begin demanding that the files be made public, giving the president bipartisan backing to release the documents.
For critics, Judge Berman’s ruling underscores the problem: a Clinton-appointed judge, presiding over one of the most politically explosive cases in decades, once again shielded Democrats from scrutiny while blocking the public from learning who Epstein’s powerful associates really were.
READ MORE – Bill Clinton Named as ‘Prime Suspect’ in Jeffrey Epstein Investigation
Our comment section is restricted to members of the Slay News community only.
To join, create a free account HERE.
If you are already a member, log in HERE.