A New York federal judge denied the Department of Justice's request to unseal grand jury files related to the conviction of late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, ABC News reports.

The decision came days after Republican Committee Chair Rep. James Comer announced in a statement that the United States Department of Justice has reportedly agreed to hand over a collection of the files related to the conviction to Congress. The first portion of the Epstein files will reportedly be given to the House Oversight Committee on Friday (August 22), according to Comer.

“There are many records in DOJ’s custody, and it will take the Department time to produce all the records and ensure the identification of victims and any child sexual abuse material are redacted,” he said. “I appreciate the Trump Administration’s commitment to transparency and efforts to provide the American people with information about this matter.”

The announcement came weeks after Department of Justice officials interviewed Epstein's longtime confidant Ghislaine Maxwell. The Department of Justice handed over an annotated version of the Maxwell grand jury transcripts showing that "much of the information provided during the course of the grand jury testimony -- with the exception of the identities of certain victims and witnesses -- was made publicly available at trial or has otherwise been publicly reported through the public statements of victims and witnesses" on Tuesday, according to the filing via ABC News.

Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year-sentence for helping the financier groom and abuse underage girls, was recently moved from Federal Correctional Institution Tallahassee to Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Bryan after speaking with the Department of Justice about Epstein. Federal Prison Camp Bryan typically houses nonviolent offenders and is less restrictive than the Tallahassee federal prison.

President Donald Trump, whose name reportedly appeared seven times in Epstein's flight logs, and his administration have recently faced scrutiny for not releasing more information about the Epstein files, which led to the president publicly directing U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to release "pertinent" grand jury testimony. On July 16, Quinnipiac University released a poll showing a majority of Americans (63%) disapproved how Trump and his administration had handled the Epstein files.

Podcaster Joe Rogan, who staunchly supported Trump in the 2024 presidential election, criticized the administration's announcement claiming there was never a list or footage revealing Epstein's alleged clients, which was a talking point of conservative pundits for years.

“They’ve got videotape and all [of] a sudden they don’t,” Rogan said on the episode of his Joe Rogan Experience podcast released on July 15.

“You had the director of the FBI on this show saying, ‘If there was [a videotape], nothing you’re looking for is on those tapes,'” he added, referring to FBI Director Kash Patel's appearance on his podcast in June. “Like, what? Why’d they say there was thousands of hours of tapes of people doing horrible s–t? Why’d they say that? Didn’t Pam Bondi say that?"

Bondi had previously claimed that the supposed Epstein list was on her desk awaiting review months ago and told reporters that the FBI was reviewing "tens of thousands of videos" of Epstein "with children or child porn" on July 1 before the DOJ suddenly announced that there was no "Epstein list" or incriminating footage of his associates days later. President Trump spent months claiming he had plans to release everything the government had on Epstein and his alleged associates, which included releasing The Epstein Files: Phase 1 in February, though the files revealed next to no new information.

The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon