A US JUDGE has rejected a Trump administration request to unseal transcripts from grand jury investigations of Jeffrey Epstein years ago in Florida.

A similar records request is pending in New York.

District judge Robin Rosenberg in West Palm Beach, Florida said the request to release grand jury documents from 2005 and 2007 did not meet any of the extraordinary exceptions under US law that could make them public.

The US Justice Department last week asked the judge to release records to quell a storm among supporters of US President Donald Trump who believe there was a conspiracy to protect Epstein’s clients, conceal videos of crimes being committed and other evidence.

In 2008, Epstein cut a deal with prosecutors in Florida that allowed him to escape more severe federal charges and instead plead guilty to state charges of procuring a person under 18 for prostitution and solicitation of prostitution.

The wealthy financier was later arrested in 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges.

His former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, was charged with helping him abuse teenage girls.

Epstein was found dead in his cell at a jail in New York City about a month after he was arrested.

Investigators concluded he killed himself.

Maxwell later was convicted at trial and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The case attracted attention because of Epstein and Maxwell’s links to famous people, including royals, presidents and billionaires.

It also led to some of the biggest conspiracy theories animating Trump’s base.

Scotland visit

Trump will hope to get some relief from the Epstein story when he heads to Scotland today for a visit melding diplomacy and golf.

The billionaire president will stay at two luxury seaside golf resorts owned by the Trump family’s holding company: at Turnberry in the west, and in the east in the city of Aberdeen.

Trump is set to meet with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer during his trip, although exact details are not yet confirmed, before an expected return on Tuesday.

The Scotland trip will also allow Trump to put some distance between himself and an ongoing controversy involving his ties with Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased financier and sex offender, and anger among his supporters over failures to release case files.

In a sign of how sensitive the issue is, the White House excluded the Wall Street Journal from press pool traveling with Trump this weekend, following an article in the newspaper about a “bawdy” letter he allegedly sent to Epstein in 2003.

The Wall Street Journal – owned by Trump ally Rupert Murdoch – has now reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi told the president that the Justice Department also decided to not release more Epstein documents because of the presence of child pornography and the need to protect victims.