Judge: "Govt's motion for unsealing not aimed at 'transparency' but at diversion--not full disclosure but at an illusion"

[bigtree]

Judge blasts Trump as he refuses to release Epstein grand jury files

Judge Engelmayer questioned the government's claim that there were "special circumstances" that allowed for the materials to be unsealed.

"It does not argue that these materials would aid federal, state, military, tribal, or foreign law enforcement; or would be relevant to national security officials, another grand jury, or another judicial proceeding," the judge wrote in a 31-page opinion on Monday. "The Government's invocation of special circumstances, however, fails at the threshold. Its entire premise—that the Maxwell grand jury materials would bring to light meaningful new information about Epstein's and Maxwell's crimes, or the Government's investigation into them—is demonstrably false."

"The Court's review confirmed that unsealing the grand jury materials would not reveal new information of any consequence," the judge determined. "They do not reveal any heretofore unknown means or methods of Epstein's or Maxwell's crimes. They do not reveal new venues at which their crimes occurred. They do not reveal new sources of their wealth. They do not explore the circumstances of Epstein's death."

"The one colorable argument under that doctrine for unsealing in this case, in fact, is that doing so would expose as disingenuous the Government's public explanations for moving to unseal," he added. "A member of the public, appreciating that the Maxwell grand jury materials do not contribute anything to public knowledge, might conclude that the Government's motion for their unsealing was aimed not at 'transparency' but at diversion—aimed not at full disclosure but at the illusion of such."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/judge-blasts-trump-as-he-refuses-to-release-epstein-grand-jury-files/ar-AA1KjFNn


watch: Katie Phang breaks it down:

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. Deadline: Legal Blog-Judge denies Trump DOJ motion to unseal Maxwell grand jury transcripts and exhibits

The judge called the whole premise of the Trump administration’s argument for unsealing “demonstrably false.”

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/ghislaine-maxwell-grand-jury-transcript-judge-denied-unseal-rcna224275

Engelmayer, an Obama appointee, noted that the Maxwell grand jury didn’t hear testimony from firsthand witnesses, victims or the like, but rather simply met “for the quotidian purpose of returning an indictment.” He said the evidence presented to the Maxwell grand jury “is today, with only very minor exceptions, a matter of public record.”

Rather than exposing new information, Engelmayer wrote, unsealing would expose the disingenuousness behind the government’s claim that unsealing would be revelatory.

“A member of the public, appreciating that the Maxwell grand jury materials do not contribute anything to public knowledge, might conclude that the Government’s motion for their unsealing was aimed not at ‘transparency’ but at diversion — aimed not at full disclosure but at the illusion of such,” the judge wrote.

“A member of the public familiar with the Maxwell trial record who reviewed the grand jury materials that the Government proposes to unseal would thus learn next to nothing new,” he wrote, adding that the materials “do not identify any person other than Epstein and Maxwell as having had sexual contact with a minor.”.....

Maxwell’s appeal is pending before the Supreme Court, and we could learn in the fall whether the justices will take it up.

A federal judge in Florida previously rejected unsealing grand jury information related to Epstein. And still pending in New York is the government’s motion to unseal grand jury information in his case there, which the government has been litigating in tandem with the Maxwell unsealing effort. The judge overseeing Epstein’s New York case has not yet ruled, but given the apparently limited nature of the grand jury presentation in that case as well, he could rule in a similar fashion to Engelmayer.