The Justice Department’s No. 2 official said he will again meet with Ghislaine Maxwell, the imprisoned former girlfriend of financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, on Friday.
The meeting on Thursday in Florida, which Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said he worked to arrange, is part of an ongoing Justice Department effort to cast itself as transparent following fierce backlash from parts of President Donald Trump’s base over an earlier refusal to release additional records in the Epstein investigation.
“Ms. Maxwell answered every single question. She never stopped, she never invoked a privilege, she never declined to answer. She answered all the questions truthfully, honestly and to the best of her ability,” attorney David Oscar Markus told reporters outside the federal courthouse in Tallahassee, Fla., where Maxwell met with Blanche.
In a social media post Tuesday, Blanche said that Trump “has told us to release all credible evidence” and that if Maxwell has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the Justice Department “will hear what she has to say.”
Markus said his team was “thankful” the deputy attorney general came to question Maxwell, calling it a “good day.”
Asked if his client could potentially receive a pardon or see her prison term reduced, Markus said: “There’s no promises yet. So she’s just answering questions for now.”
Blanche said in a social media post that the Maxwell interview will continue on Friday.
“The Department of Justice will share additional information about what we learned at the appropriate time,” he said in a post on X.
The House’s oversight committee issued a subpoena Wednesday for Maxwell to testify before the panel in August.
Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence and is housed at a low-security federal prison in Tallahassee. She was sentenced three years ago after being convicted of helping Epstein sexually abuse underage girls.
Democrat skeptical of Blanche-Maxwell interview
Some Democrats have criticized the meeting between Maxwell and Blanche — who last year represented Trump during a New York criminal trial before joining his administration — as unusual.
Robert Garcia, ranking Democrat on the House committee, said it would be important to get corroborating information from any Maxwell claims stemming from either the Blanche interview or her appearance before the committee.
“God knows what she’s being told to say, or what he’s willing to say, to get a reduced sentence,” Garcia told MSNBC.
Officials have said Epstein killed himself in his New York jail cell while awaiting trial in 2019, but his case has generated endless attention and conspiracy theories because of his and Maxwell’s links to famous people, including royals, presidents and billionaires.
Both Trump and former president Bill Clinton were known to have socialized with Epstein, and to each have taken flights on planes belonging to Epstein, which is not an indication of any wrongdoing. A spokesperson for Clinton in 2019 said the flights were related to Clinton Foundation work and that the ex-president was accompanied by Secret Service personnel.
Trump once praised Epstein as a “terrific guy,” but said their relationship ended before Epstein’s legal troubles, with reports the pair fell out over a real estate dispute. In 2020, the year Maxwell was arrested, Trump said, “I just wish her well, frankly.”
Earlier this month, the Justice Department said it would not release more files related to the Epstein investigation, despite promises that claimed otherwise from Attorney General Pam Bondi. The department also said an Epstein client list does not exist, after Bondi earlier this year suggested that explosive information related to the case was forthcoming.
The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Bondi told Trump in May that his name was among high-profile people mentioned in government files of Epstein, though the mention does not imply wrongdoing.
The Justice Department has sought permission to unseal grand jury transcripts from its prior investigations into Epstein and Maxwell. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg in Florida denied one of those requests, finding that it did not fall into any of the exceptions to rules requiring grand jury material be kept secret.
The department earlier this month announced the firing of the person arguably with the most knowledge of the Maxwell and Epstein crimes, Manhattan Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey, who worked on the cases of both. Comey is the daughter of former FBI director James Comey, who Trump has long considered an adversary.
Congress could revisit Epstein probe after break
A subcommittee on Wednesday also voted to subpoena the Justice Department for documents related to Epstein. And senators in both major political parties have expressed openness to holding hearings on the matter after Congress’ August recess.
Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, has introduced legislation with bipartisan support that would require the Justice Department to “make publicly available in a searchable and downloadable format all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials” related to Epstein and his associates.
Front BurnerCase closed on the ‘Epstein list’?
House Speaker Mike Johnson and the Republican majority leader, Rep. Steve Scalise, both of Louisiana, have said they will address whatever outstanding Epstein-related issues are in Congress when they return from recess.
Epstein, under a 2008 non-prosecution agreement, pleaded guilty in Florida to state charges of soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution. That allowed him to avert a possible life sentence, instead serving 13 months in a work release program. He was required to make payments to victims and register as a sex offender.
The prosecutor who signed off on the deal, Alex Acosta, later went on to serve as labour secretary in Trump’s first administration, resigning when the deal came to light in mid-2019 when Epstein was charged by federal prosecutors in Manhattan for similar allegations to the previous state case.