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The US Justice Department has made another attempt to obtain access to grand jury documents from the probe into the late financier, which resulted in his sex-trafficking charges in 2019.

Congressional Action Drives Fresh Judicial Effort

The newly submitted request, signed by the US attorney for the Manhattan district, states that Congress made it evident when endorsing the release of probe records that these court records should be made public.

"The congressional action overrode existing law in a manner that enables the disclosure of the federal jury documents," explained the justice department.

Timing Factors

The filing petitioned the district court to act promptly in making public the records, citing the one-month timeframe established after the measure was enacted last week.

Previous Motion Faced Refusal

However, this latest attempt comes after a previous motion from the previous administration was turned down by the presiding judge, who referenced a "substantial and convincing justification" for preserving the documents confidential.

In his recent judgment, the magistrate observed that the limited documentation of grand jury transcripts and exhibits, containing a slide deck, phone records, and written communications from affected individuals and their attorneys, pale in comparison to the government's extensive accumulation of case-related documents.

"The prosecution's hundred thousand pages of Epstein files overwhelm the limited grand jury materials," wrote Berman in his ruling, observing that the motion appeared to be a "diversion" from making public records already in the government's possession.

Substance of the Grand Jury Materials

The confidential documents mainly include the statement of an federal investigator, who served as the sole witness in the federal jury hearings and reportedly had "limited personal awareness of the facts of the case" with testimony that was "primarily secondhand."

Protection Issues

The presiding judge identified the "possible threats to affected individuals' protection and personal information" as the persuasive factor for maintaining the materials confidential.

Similar Case

A parallel motion to make public grand jury testimony relating to the legal case of his accomplice was also rejected, with the judicial officer observing that the prosecution's motion incorrectly implied the sealed records contained an "untapped mine lode of hidden facts" about the case.

Current Developments

The latest petition comes shortly after the appointment of a fresh attorney to probe his associations with well-known politicians and several months after the dismissal of one of the main lawyers working on the proceedings.

When questioned about how the current probe might impact the disclosure of Epstein files in official hands, the top legal official responded: "No further statements will be made on that because it is now a active probe in the Manhattan jurisdiction."