Dem
47
GOP
53
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith, a Donald Trump appointee, ordered that the grand jury transcripts relating to Jeffrey Epstein's conviction be unsealed and made public. He also ordered that protective orders that would have prevented the government from releasing them be lifted.
It is unusual that grand jury transcripts be made public, but in this case, pursuant to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the judge made an exception. Whether anything not already known is in there remains to be seen. In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to procuring underage girls for prostitution. There was no trial, so the grand jury material was never seen by anyone except possibly the judge. There could be surprises in there, but they will relate to Epstein's activities prior to 2008.
This decision is important because it is likely that judges will release what they have, without first removing anything potentially damaging to important people. With the DoJ, there is a very real possibility that documents that negatively depict Donald Trump or any of his cronies will be destroyed, rather than released. Other federal judges are also sitting on information that could be released in the near future. (V)