Trump's DOJ fights against Judge Cannon's Epstein move in court: 'Not appropriate'

President Donald Trump’s Justice Department is fighting an effort to combine two lawsuits from Jeffrey Epstein survivors who say the FBI failed them. The push to combine them got its start with U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon.

Maria Farmer is one of the earliest known Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell victims. She sued the government in Washington in May 2025, alleging she reported Epstein and Maxwell to the FBI in 1996 and that “the FBI, in violation of its mandatory obligations under regulations and DOJ policies, chose to do absolutely nothing,” Law&Crime reported.

Senior U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton ruled in September that the case belonged in Florida, calling it “substantially the same” as a separate suit, Jane Doe 1 et al. v. United States. Once it arrived in the Southern District of Florida, the case was assigned to Cannon, a Trump appointee. A day later, Cannon found “good cause” to send it to U.S. District Judge David Leibowitz, a Biden appointee who is overseeing the Doe case, according to Law&Crime.

Leibowitz then ordered both sides to explain why the cases should or shouldn’t be consolidated.

The victims want them combined. The plaintiffs in the Doe case, Laura Newman, Sandra Ward and 32 Jane Does, cited Cannon’s finding that the cases were “of the same subject matter and arising out of the same circumstances.” They asked that the suits be consolidated “exclusively for discovery and pretrial issues.” Farmer agreed, but only for limited procedural and pretrial purposes.

The DOJ says no.

“Consolidation is not appropriate under the Federal Rules as the two cases, though arguably arising from similar circumstances, do not share sufficient factual or legal issues to justify consolidation,” government lawyers wrote in an Oct. 21 filing. They argued the cases “involve distinct legal theories, and are in materially different procedural postures, such that consolidation would prejudice both Parties.”

The department noted that the Doe plaintiffs’ case targets only the FBI, while Farmer’s also accuses the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, the office that cut Epstein’s controversial 2008 non-prosecution deal. The Doe case has been in litigation since 2024 and is in a 90-day period of limited discovery. The government argued that folding in Farmer’s claims “would disrupt the current jurisdictional discovery underway.”

The fight comes as the DOJ also tries to quash a subpoena for Attorney General Todd Blanche to testify in the Doe case. The department argues deposing him would “threaten the separation of powers, chill agency decision making, discourage public service, and create potential for abuse or harassment.” A hearing on that motion is set for Nov. 4.