Jeffrey Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell answered every question she was asked as part of the Justice Department’s effort to dispel backlash over the Trump administration’s handling of the files.
Maxwell spent a full day Thursday answering queries from the department’s No 2 official, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, in Tallahassee, where she is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking.
The meeting ended shortly before 4pm, with Maxwell’s attorney, David Oscar Markus, calling it ‘a very productive day’.
‘First, we want to thank the deputy attorney general for being so professional with all of us and meeting with all of us,’ said Markus outside of the federal courthouse in Florida.
‘He took a full day and asked a lot of questions.
‘And Ms Maxwell answered every single question.’
Markus declined to detail what was discussed during the interview ‘for obvious reasons’. But he conveyed that his client openly and willingly spoke.
Maxwell ‘never invoked a privilege, never declined to answer’, he said.
‘She answered all of the questions truthfully, honestly and to the best of her ability.’
The interview took place a day after the House Oversight Committee subpoenaed Maxwell to sit for a deposition on August 11. Maxwell will testify from the Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee.
‘While the department undertakes efforts to uncover and publicly disclose additional information related to your and Mr. Epstein’s cases, it is imperative that Congress conduct oversight of the federal government’s enforcement of sex trafficking laws generally and specifically its handling of the investigation and prosecution of you and Mr. Epstein,’ stated the cover letter of the subpoena.
On Wednesday, senior administration officials also reportedly told The Wall Street Journal that US Attorney General Pam Bondi and Blanche told President Donald Trump in May that his name appears in the Epstein files multiple times.
The White House has labeled the report ‘fake news’, but criticism over the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein case has only grown.
Maxwell, who was Epstein’s girlfriend and longtime associate, has expressed that she wants to get out of prison, and is appealing her conviction.
The Justice Department has asked the US Supreme Court to reject Maxwell’s appeal, yet brokered Thursday’s interview with her. The move highlights the irony of the situation for the department, which prosecuted Maxwell but now faces blowback from the public seeking answers.
Much of MAGA has turned against Trump on the matter after the Justice Department and FBI earlier this month stated that no incriminating Epstein client list existed, despite earlier promises to release the documents.
A YouGov survey conducted on Thursday showed that a majority of Americans, 53%, think the government has not released certain Epstein files because Trump is named in them, while only 21% do not think that is the reason, and 25% are not sure.
Even more Americans, 61%, said they think Trump’s name is in the Epstein files, and only 12% do not think so and 28% are not sure, according to the poll. And nearly half of Americans, or 45%, think Trump was involved in crimes allegedly committed by Epstein, while 28% do not think so and 27% are not sure.
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