New Delhi, Dec. 6 -- A federal judge in Florida on Friday (December 5) authorized the Justice Department to release grand jury transcripts from its sex-trafficking investigation into Jeffrey Epstein - documents long sought for their potential insight into the disgraced financier's connections to influential figures, including President Donald Trump.

US District Judge Rodney Smith approved the move after the DOJ requested permission to unseal the records.

The request followed Congress' passage of a bill requiring the Attorney General to disclose all unclassified files tied to Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a prison sentence for sex trafficking.

Trump had previously opposed unsealing the Epstein files but shi...