Expert flags judge's 'swipe' at Trump admin around release of Maxwell docs

Federal Judge Paul Engelmayer, in New York, ordered Tuesday that grand jury information from Ghislaine Maxwell's prosecution be released to the public in compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

NOTUS justice reporter Jose Pagliery recalled, "But keep in mind this same judge previously poked at DOJ by pointing out that there's nothing new here. So don't get excited. T-minus 10 days until we get the actual Epstein files."

"In other words, get ready for a very large nothingburger. In part, that reflects the nature of the case that the DoJ prepped for Maxwell after Epstein's death," Ed Morrissey of HotAir agreed.

The Epstein grand jury information in Florida was also set to be released to the public, but the judge noted that there was very little information that wasn't already public in that case as well.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) took a victory lap over the release, noting that this would not have been possible without his legislation with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.)

Television presenter Brandon Lorenzo was skeptical it would happen.

"Yet this doesn't mean the DOJ and Administration will release it, part of it or all of it to the public. Just like both Presidents Obama and Biden also didn't share. 3 Presidents and so much is still being hidden regarding Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell," he wrote on X.

In Maxwell's case, the trial wasn't finished until Dec. 2021, and she was sentenced in June 2022.

CNN's Erica Orden pointed out the detail that the judge "ordered Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to personally certify that the material doesn't disclose victim information." In a November release of information, the DOJ neglected to withhold those names, exposing several survivors who didn't want to be known.

Legal analyst Adam Klasfeld, who writes the "All Rise" newsletter, noted that "Judge Engelmayer swipes repeatedly at Trump's DOJ for paying 'lip service' to then sidelining victims — and misleading the public about what the records contain."

"The victims’ concerns, regrettably, have a basis in fact," wrote Engelmayer. "In its two rounds of applications to this Court to disclose records, DOJ, although paying lip service to Maxwell’s and Epstein’s victims, has not treated them with the solicitude they deserve. DOJ made its July 18, 2025, motions to unseal the grand jury materials in this case and Epstein’s without giving notice to Maxwell’s and Epstein’s victims."

"The letters the Court thereupon received from victims widely expressed distress at the lack of notice given to them by DOJ," he added.

He also wrote that his court has "chronicled in denying DOJ’s motion, [that] the motion itself misled victims—and the public at large—in holding out the Maxwell grand jury materials as essential to the goal of 'transparency to the American public,' when in fact the grand jury materials would not add to public knowledge."