The Blubber

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a bill to allow release of the Jeffrey Epstein grand jury documents.


Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill on Thursday that will allow the transcripts of a 2006 grand jury in Palm Beach County, which investigated Jeffrey Epstein's sexual assaults of underage girls, to be made public.

"This bill says that in a situation like this, it is in the interest of justice to disclose it," DeSantis said during a news conference at the Palm Beach Police Department. "This would green light the disclosure of the grand jury materials regarding the Jeffrey Epstein case. And this is long overdue."

The bill will become effective on July 1, although a South Florida circuit judge might release the transcripts sooner as part of a lawsuit filed by the Palm Beach Post.

In 2019, the Post sued the Palm Beach County state attorney and the court clerk to obtain a court order to unseal the grand jury proceedings and reveal why the grand jury returned only minimal charges.

Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Lou Delgado ruled in 2021 that the court did not have the authority under state law to release the records. However, a state appeals court disagreed last year, citing a state law that allows grand jury records to be made public if it is in the "furtherance of justice." The appeals court ordered the lower court to review, redact, and release the material, but that process has not yet been completed.

County Clerk Joseph Abruzzo collaborated with Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton, and Rep. Peggy Gossett-Seidman, R-Boca Raton, to advance and pass the legislation during the 2024 legislative session.

"There needs to be a mechanism in some of these rare circumstances where people can get the truth. And where we can try to pursue justice," DeSantis said on Thursday.