A federal judge in Florida on Friday ordered the release of grand jury transcripts from the federal sex trafficking cases of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith said a recently passed federal law ordering the release of records related to the cases overrode a federal rule prohibiting the release of matters before a grand jury. The law signed last month by President Donald Trump compels the Justice Department, FBI and federal prosecutors to release later this month the vast troves of material they have amassed during investigations into Epstein. When the documents will be released is unknown. The government had asked the court for permission to include the usually secret grand jury records in the files they are required to make public under the new federal law, known as the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The Justice Department hasn’t set a timetable for when it plans to start releasing information, but the law set a deadline of Dec. 19. However, the law also allows the Justice Department to withhold files that it says could jeopardize an active federal investigation. That’s also longstanding Justice Department policy. Files can also be withheld if they’re found to be classified or if they pertain to national defense or foreign policy. One of the federal prosecutors on the Florida case did not answer a phone call Friday and the other declined to answer questions. The Justice Department had requested the unsealing of documents from three Epstein-related separate cases: the 2006-2007 Florida grand jury investigation into Epstein, his 2019 sex trafficking case in New York and Ghislaine Maxwell’s 2021 sex trafficking case, also in New York. The Florida request was approved Friday. The New York requests are pending, with the Justice Department facing a Monday deadline to make its final filing — a response to submissions by victims, Epstein’s estate and Maxwell’s lawyers. The judges in those matters have said they plan to rule expeditiously.

Minutes after police approached Luigi Mangione in a Pennsylvania McDonald's, he told an officer he didn't want to talk, according to video and testimony at a court hearing Thursday for the man charged with killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Although some video and accounts of police interactions with Mangione emerged earlier in this week's hearing, Dec. 4 proceedings shed new light on the lead-up to and aftermath of his Dec. 9, 2024, arrest in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Mangione, 27, appeared to follow the proceedings intently, at times leaning over the defense table to scrutinize papers or take notes. He briefly looked down as Altoona Police Officer Tyler Frye was asked about a strip-search of Mangione after his arrest. Under the department's policy, that search wasn't recorded. It happened after police were told that someone at the McDonald's resembled the much-publicized suspect in Thompson's killing. But Frye and Officer Joseph Detwiler initially approached Mangione with a low-key tone, saying only that someone had said he looked “suspicious.” Asked for his ID, he gave a phony New Jersey driver's license with a fake name, according to prosecutors. Moments later, after frisking Mangione, Detwiler stepped away to communicate with dispatchers about the license, leaving the rookie Frye by Mangione's table. “So what’s going on? What brings you up here from New Jersey?” Frye asked, according to his body-camera video. Mangione answered in a low voice. Asked what the suspect had said, Frye testified Thursday: “It was something along the lines of: He didn’t want to talk to me at that time.” Mangione later added that “he was just trying to use the Wi-Fi,” according to Frye. During the roughly 20 minutes before Mangione was told he had the right to remain silent, he answered other questions asked by the officers, and also posed a few of his own. “Can I ask why there’s so many cops here?" he asked shortly before being informed he was being arrested on a forgery charge related to his false ID. By that point, roughly a dozen officers had converged on the restaurant, and Mangione had been told he was being investigated and had been handcuffed. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal murder charges. Before any trials get scheduled, his lawyers are trying to preclude the eventual jurors from hearing about his alleged statements to law officers and items — including a gun and a notebook — they allegedly seized from his backpack. The evidence is key to prosecutors' case. They have said the 9 mm handgun matches the firearm used in the killing, that writings in the notebook laid out Mangione's disdain for health insurers and ideas about killing a CEO at an investor conference, and that he gave police the same fake name that the alleged gunman used at a New York hostel days before the shooting. Thursday's proceedings came on the anniversary of the killing, which UnitedHealthcare marked by lowering the flags at its headquarters in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and encouraging employees to engage in volunteering. Thompson, 50, was shot from behind as he walked to an investor conference. He became UnitedHealthcare's CEO in 2021 and had worked within parent UnitedHealth Group Inc. for 20 years. The hearing, which started Monday and could extend to next week, applies only to the state case. But it is giving the public an extensive preview of some testimony, video, 911 audio and other records relevant to both cases. After encountering Mangione, Detwiler and Frye tried to play it cool and buy time by intimating that they were simply responding to a loitering complaint and chatting about his steak sandwich. Still, they patted Mangione down and pushed his backpack away from him. About 15 minutes in, officers warned him that he was being investigated and would be arrested if he repeated what they had determined was a fake name. After he gave his real one, he was read his rights, handcuffed, frisked again and ultimately arrested on a forgery charge related to his fake ID. Mangione's lawyers argue that his statements shouldn't be allowed as trial evidence because officers started questioning him before reading his rights. They say the contents of his backpack should be excluded because police didn’t get a warrant before searching it. Manhattan prosecutors haven't yet detailed their arguments for allowing the disputed evidence. Federal prosecutors have maintained that the backpack search was justified to ensure there was nothing dangerous inside, and that Mangione's statements to officers were voluntary and made before he was under arrest. Many criminal cases see disputes over evidence and the complicated legal standards governing police searches and interactions with potential suspects.

A deadly UPS cargo plane crash in Kentucky stemmed from from corporate choices that favored profits over safety, according to a lawyer who filed two wrongful death lawsuits Wednesday, which allege the company kept flying older aircraft without increasing maintenance beyond what’s regularly scheduled. Last month's fiery crash happened during takeoff after the plane's left engine detached, and cracks were later found where the engine connected to the wing, the National Transportation Safety Board said. The lawsuit also names General Electric, which made the plane's engine. Both UPS and GE said they don't comment on pending lawsuits and that safety is a top priority as they assist the federal investigation. Robert Clifford, a lawyer representing two of the victims killed on the ground, said those cracks show the MD-11 jets, which average more than 30 years old, are too dangerous for package delivery companies to keep in the air. The Federal Aviation Administration has grounded all MD-11s, which have been exclusively hauling cargo for more than a decade. Three pilots and 11 people on the ground were killed on Nov. 4 when the plane, fully loaded with fuel for a flight to Hawaii, plowed into businesses just outside the airport in Louisville, where UPS has its largest package delivery hub. Clifford said UPS was saving money and aircraft downtime by keeping “old, tired” planes in the air while not increasing the number of inspections. Fellow attorney Bradley Cosgrove said at a news conference that they believe inspections should have found the cracks cited by federal investigators, adding, “This plane should have never been in the air.” The lawsuits filed in state court are on behalf of the families of Angela Anderson, 45, who was shopping at a business by the airport, and Trinadette “Trina” Chavez, 37, who was working at Grade A Auto Parts. “We intend to stand up for ‘Nena’ and fight for her, no matter how long it takes, just like Nena always did for us,” said Chavez's sister, Gabriela Hermosillo-Nunez, calling her by another nickname that her eight younger brothers and sisters used. The suit also names Boeing, which acquired the original manufacturer of the plane McDonell Douglas, and VT San Antonio Aerospace, Inc., which inspected and maintained the plane. The two companies did not immediately respond to email and phone messages seeking comment. The jet that crashed had just finished more than six weeks of extensive maintenance, completed Oct. 18, in which VT San Antonio Aerospace crews repaired significant structural issues, according to the lawsuits. Those included repairing a crack in the center wing fuel tank, addressing corrosion on structural components, and lubricating parts involved in attaching the engine to the wing. The engine mount hadn’t undergone a detailed inspection since 2021, and the plane wasn’t due for another detailed inspection of that part for another 7,000 takeoffs and landings. After the crash, federal investigators grounded all 109 of the remaining MD-11s used by UPS, FedEx and Western Global for inspections and repairs, but the FAA hasn’t said what will be required. The aircraft make up about 9% of the UPS airline fleet and 4% of FedEx’s fleet. If massive repairs or overhauls are ordered, experts said package delivery companies may find replacing them the better option. UPS announced last week it didn’t expect the MD-11s to be back in the sky until at least after the holiday season. The legal battles stemming from the crash are likely just beginning. UPS was named as a defendant in a federal lawsuit filed last month accusing it of negligence and wanton conduct. The crash “acted like a bomb” and the plaintiffs had their lives and businesses “turned upside down” as a result, the suit said.