U.S. judge denies Trump request to unseal Ghislaine Maxwell grand jury files
The U.S. Justice Department had called for the unsealing of testimony and evidence involving Maxwell and Epstein.
On Monday, Judge Paul Engelmayer said the materials were of no public or historical interest.
'The Court therefore denies the Government's motion to unseal at the threshold. Contrary to the Government's depiction, the Maxwell grand jury testimony is not a matter of significant historical or public interest. Far from it,' Engelmayer wrote, adding that a significant portion of the documents the government requested were already in the public domain after being presented at Maxwell's 2021 trial.
View image in full screen
FILE – Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell attend an event in 2005 in New York City. Getty Images
'It consists of garden-variety summary testimony by two law enforcement agents. And the information it contains is already almost entirely a matter of longstanding public record, principally as a result of live testimony by percipient witnesses at the 2021 Maxwell trial.'
Story continues below advertisement
Engelmayer also said it was evident to him that the Trump administration was not familiar with Maxwell's trial because its request identified records that were presented during Maxwell's trial as sealed, suggesting that it intended to deflect public attention from the case.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy
'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,' he wrote.
Last week, Maxwell said she opposed the federal government's request to unseal the files, which she argued would be in contravention of her legal rights.
'Jeffrey Epstein is dead. Ghislaine Maxwell is not. Whatever interest the public may have in Epstein, that interest cannot justify a broad intrusion into grand jury secrecy in a case where the defendant is alive, her legal options are viable, and her due process rights remain,' her lawyers wrote in a formal response.
Story continues below advertisement
Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in Epstein's sex abuse scandal and is in the process of appealing her 2021 conviction.
'Given that she is actively litigating her case and does not know what is in the grand jury record, she has no choice but to respectfully oppose the government's motion to unseal it,' her lawyers, David Oscar Markus and Melissa Madrigal, wrote.
Maxwell has re-entered the spotlight in recent weeks after giving an interview with U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and being transferred to a lesser security prison in Texas.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Global News
24 minutes ago
- Global News
Child attacked by mountain lion that wandered into California neighbourhood
An 11-year-old girl is recovering in hospital after being attacked by a mountain lion in California over the weekend. According to NBC Los Angeles, the child was bitten on Sunday at about 5:40 p.m. outside a home in the Pacific Coast Highway and Encinal Canyon Road area of Malibu. Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies told the outlet that the girl was bitten on the arm and transported to a hospital in Thousand Oaks with non-life-threatening injuries. Wildlife experts later put down the mountain lion they believed was responsible for the attack, it added. The Mountain Lion Foundation estimates that about 4,500 mountain lions inhabit vast ranges of landscape across California, and about 40 per cent of the state is considered suitable habitat for the species, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife says. Story continues below advertisement View image in full screen A mountain lion sitting relaxed in Torres Del Paine, Patagonia, Chile. Getty Images Mountain lions are a solitary and elusive species that tend to avoid human contact and are also referred to as cougars, panthers and pumas. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy The department receives hundreds of mountain lion sighting reports every year, but few result in the animals posing an imminent threat to public safety, it told NBC Los Angeles. Mountain lion attacks on humans are also rare. Since 1890, there have been six known fatal human attacks by mountain lions in California. Its website says the state's most recent fatal mountain lion attack was in March 2024, when a 21-year-old man was killed in a remote part of El Dorado County. Since 1986, there have been 23 non-fatal attacks. Mountain lions eat mostly large animals, such as deer, elk, pronghorn, bighorn sheep, wild pigs, feral horses and burros, the wildlife department says, and will adapt their hunting behaviour in response to a changing environment, prey availability and competition for food. Story continues below advertisement They may also hunt other animals, including poultry, small livestock or pets. Last Thursday evening, a biker in the Alpine Capone area along Brohm Ridge, near Garibaldi Provincial Park in British Columbia, suffered minor injuries after being followed by a mountain lion. Officials said the animal pursued the man and 'made contact,' then followed him for another 20 minutes. The man walked backward holding his bike, and eventually was able to get the big cat to disengage by throwing rocks at it. Last year, a five-year-old boy survived a mountain lion attack in Malibu Creek State Park after he was targeted by the predator during a family picnic. According to the Los Angeles news station KTLA, he was playing with several other children close to the family's picnic site, where at least six adults were supervising, when a mountain lion picked up the child by his head and began to run away. Story continues below advertisement Witnesses said the child's father chased the fleeing mountain lion and fought it until it dropped the boy from its mouth. The boy was airlifted to hospital, where he was treated for injuries, including to his eyes. — with files from Global News' Simon Little
Global News
2 hours ago
- Global News
Winnipeg police make drug, gun seizure after driver flees traffic stop Saturday
Two men are facing a lengthy list of charges after fleeing an early morning traffic stop Saturday in the West End, Winnipeg police say. Officers were patrolling near Agnes Street and St. Matthews Avenue just before 2:15 a.m. when they saw a 2011 Nissan Rogue idling at a stop sign. The same Nissan later failed to stop at a red light at Maryland Street and Portage Avenue, police said, and when they attempted a traffic stop, it took off at high speed. With the help of the Air1 helicopter, police tracked the car to a home on Alexander Avenue. Two men got out and ran away, but were arrested nearby. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy A search of the Nissan turned up 1.9 grams of crack, 2.9 grams of cocaine and a loaded .45-calibre handgun with a serial number that had been removed. Police also found small quantities of crack, cocaine and three cellular phones that had been dropped near the site of the arrest. Police also seized $895 in cash from the driver. Story continues below advertisement A 20-year-old man now faces more than half a dozen charges, including possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, possessing the proceeds of property obtained by crime, fleeing while pursued by a peace officer and four firearms charges. The other man, 21, has been charged with a similar list of offences — six in total.
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
Canada's voting system is constitutional, Ontario Court of Appeal rules
Social Sharing A panel of three Ontario Court of Appeal judges unanimously affirmed the constitutionality of Canada's first-past-the-post electoral system in a ruling released on Monday. The system, laid out in the Canada Elections Act, sees the candidate who receives the most votes in a given riding or electoral district become the member of Parliament. Fair Voting BC and the Springtide Collective for Democratic Society argued in court that the system violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms' guarantee of effective representation. The groups also said the system leads to the underrepresentation of women and other groups in Parliament, breaching the Charter's equality rights provision. In a proportional representation system, the number of representatives a party elects reflects the percentage of the total vote the party receives. In November 2023, the Ontario Superior Court dismissed the challenge from Fair Voting BC and Springtide. It said that while a proportional representation system would be a fair alternative to the current system, it's not required by the Constitution. In its decision, the province's Court of Appeal also rejected the groups' key arguments. "The electoral system is not in conflict with either the right to vote or the right to equality. It does not violate the Charter," Justice Grant Huscroft said in written reasons delivered on behalf of another judge on the panel. "The appellants' arguments that the electoral system violates the Charter are, in essence, a repackaging of failed political arguments as constitutional rights violations." Limitations of litigating policy disputes The expert evidence "put forward in support" of those arguments, Huscroft wrote, is "replete with highly contestable policy arguments about which reasonable disagreement abounds, not only in the academic community but amongst the public at large… "This evidence demonstrates the shortcomings of constitutional litigation in addressing public policy disagreements." The short answer to the argument that the electoral system violates the Charter is that Canadian citizens are free to vote for anyone they choose, and for any reason they choose, Huscroft added. "There is no constitutional requirement that their individual choices aggregate in a way that achieves some ideal of representational diversity," he wrote. "Neither the political party affiliation nor the personal characteristics of the candidates who win election are relevant to the constitutionality of the electoral system." During the 2015 election campaign, then Liberal leader Justin Trudeau promised it would be the last federal election held under the first-past-the-post system.
