Judge Paul Engelmeyer has refused the Trump administration’s request to release the grand jury transcripts from Ghislaine Maxwell’s prosecution. He notes forcefully that he’s reviewed the grand jury transcripts and there’s no there there — everything of interest disclosed to the grand jury became public at trial. Indeed, the only reason Engelmeyer considered releasing the transcript was that it would serve the public interest of showing the government had been lying about what’s in the transcript. But he said that wasn’t necessary, either, because the government ultimately admitted in subsequent filings that the transcript didn’t contain interesting information. So what, exactly, have we been doing here?

In other news, some idiot threw a sandwich at a CBP officer sent by Trump to patrol the streets of Washington and the Justice Department is hot to make an example him. Laura Loomer’s defamation suit against Bill Maher continues.

Plus: tariffs, a look at a couple of favorable rulings for Trump out of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, an update on US Attorney Bill Essayli’s effort to keep former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Trevor Kirk out of prison, and the misfortune of Mohamed Bahi, an aide to Eric Adams who does not seem to enjoy the same protection from federal justice that Adams himself has.

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This week Ken and Josh discuss the next steps the Trump administration may be considering to deal with the Epstein mess: what to do about the files, what to do about the transcript of Todd Blanche's meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell. Maxwell, who was moved to a much nicer federal prison, has a colorable argument that her conviction should be thrown out because she was supposed to be covered by the sweetheart deal Jeffrey Epstein cut with federal prosecutors back during the Bush administration.

Plus: Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl are pleading no-contest to Michigan state crimes relating to their voter-suppression robocalls, the Ninth Circuit has denied the government a stay with regard to the temporary restraining order restricting the grounds on which ICE can detain suspected illegal migrants, and in the Valley, former NBA star Gilbert Arenas has been indicted for running an illegal poker game, updates in the Trump v. Murdoch case and regarding an apparent DOJ investigation into James Comey.

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Ghislaine Maxwell has sat for a meeting with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who not very long ago was serving as President Trump’s personal criminal defense attorney. The idea seems to be that Maxwell could offer some “help” getting to the bottom of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal in exchange for some sort of leniency. That’s for free subscribers. For paying subscribers this week, there’s much more:

* Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron’s libel suit against Candace Owens

* The machinations that have kept Alina Habba in charge, for now, at the US Attorney’s Office in New Jersey

* Another ruling blocking the administration’s effort to restrict birthright citizenship

* A strange Supreme Court order saying lower courts should do a better job inferring what its decisions on the shadow docket mean, and a concurrence from Justice Kavanaugh that says the lower courts really do need more guidance — guidance that only a more proactive and meddlesome Supreme Court can provide.

To get the whole episode, go to serioustrouble.show