The federal judge now overseeing the Justice Department’s request to unseal grand jury records from Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell’s criminal case said in a new order Tuesday that he plans to rule “expeditiously” on the matter but requires more information before he can do so.
“The Court intends to resolve this motion expeditiously,” District Judge Paul Engelmayer said in a four-page order, filed Tuesday. “However, the Court cannot rule on the motion without additional submissions,” the order also said.
Engelmayer is asking for further briefing from the Justice Department after he said their initial motion “does not adequately address” what the filing said is a “non-exhaustive list of factors for district courts to weigh in considering applications for disclosure” of such secret grand jury information.
MORE: Why unsealing Epstein grand jury records could be a long process
Engelmayer gave the government until July 29 to submit a brief further outlining their justification for seeking the release of the records, which he said should address whether they have already reviewed grand jury transcripts from Maxwell’s case and whether they provided notice to victims prior to their motion to unseal the records.
The order also directs the government to file under seal an index of Maxwell grand jury transcript materials, the transcripts themselves and a proposed redacted set of the transcripts, as well as other items.
Separately, Judge Engelmayer set a deadline of Aug. 5 for Maxwell’s attorneys and victims in the case to address their positions regarding the disclosure of the grand jury transcripts.
President Donald Trump announced last week that he’d ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek the release of additional Epstein material following pushback from conservatives and others for more transparency in the case.
Bondi said Monday that Deputy Attorney Todd Blanche will meet with Ghislaine Maxwell sometime in the “coming days.”
“President Trump has told us to release all credible evidence. If Ghislane Maxwell has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the DOJ will hear what she has to say,” Blanche said in a statement posted by Bondi on X.
