Judge Who Drew Calls for Impeachment Over DOGE Ruling Gets Maxwell Transcript Case

A federal judge who faced Republican demands for impeachment after blocking Elon Musk's government review team from accessing sensitive Treasury Department records will consider whether to release grand jury testimony from the criminal case of Jeffrey Epstein's associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan was assigned to the case on Monday. Maxwell's trial judge, Alison Nathan, is now a federal appellate judge.

The assignment came three days after the U.S. government sought to unseal grand jury transcripts related to Epstein, the disgraced financier and sex offender who died by suicide in 2019 in jail after being charged with sex trafficking.

In a Friday court filing, the Department of Justice said the criminal cases against Epstein and Maxwell are a matter of public interest, justifying the release of associated grand jury transcripts.

Backers of conspiracy theories about Epstein have urged President Donald Trump to release a broad array of investigative files related to Epstein, not just grand jury transcripts.

Separately, U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles in Miami was assigned on Monday to preside over Trump's $10-billion lawsuit accusing The Wall Street Journal of defaming him by claiming he created a lewd birthday greeting for Epstein in 2003.

Dow Jones, which publishes the Journal and is part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, said it will defend against the lawsuit, and had "full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting."

News Corp and Murdoch are also defendants.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Journal had been removed from the press pool covering Trump’s July 25-29 trip to Scotland because of its “fake and defamatory conduct.”

“As the appeals court confirmed, the Wall Street Journal or any other news outlet are not guaranteed special access to cover President Trump in the Oval Office, aboard Air Force One, and in his private workspaces,” Leavitt said in a statement.

A spokesperson for Dow Jones declined to comment on Leavitt's statement.

Earlier this year, the White House removed The Associated Press from pool coverage because it had continued to refer to the Gulf of Mexico by that name instead of Trump's preferred "Gulf of America."