Ghislaine Maxwell meets DOJ official

Ghislaine Maxwell, the imprisoned accomplice of notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, will meet with top Department of Justice official Todd Blanche for the second time on Friday, Blanche and her lawyer said Thursday evening.

Blanche met for several hours earlier Thursday with Maxwell and her criminal defense lawyer in the federal courthouse in Tallahassee, Florida.

Neither Blanche nor Maxwell’s lawyer, David Oscar Markus, disclosed what was discussed during Thursday’s session.

The meeting came two days after Blanche said that he would seek information from her about potential abuse by other people of girls and young women connected to the late money manager Epstein.

And the unusual sit-down came after weeks of strong pressure on the Trump administration to release evidence related to Epstein’s crimes.

“Today, I met with Ghislaine Maxwell, and I will continue my interview of her tomorrow,” said Blanche in his post on X on Thursday. “The Department of Justice will share additional information about what we learned at the appropriate time.”

 Markus, in a statement, said, “Looking forward to another productive day tomorrow.”

“Ghislaine honestly answered every question that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche asked. And she will continue to do so,” Markus said.

“We are grateful that the government is trying to uncover the truth. They have never before spoken with her and we trust the process.”

Blanche, who is the deputy U.S. Attorney General, left the courthouse without speaking to or being seen by reporters waiting outside.

But Markus gave a brief statement to those journalists, calling the sit-down with Blanche “very productive.”

“He took a full day and asked a lot of questions,” Markus said. “And Ms. Maxwell answered every single question. She never stopped, she never invoked a privilege. Never declined to answer.”

The DOJ on July 7 said it would withhold information in the Epstein files despite prior promises by Attorney General Pam Bondi and top FBI officials that they would be made public.

The DOJ has said that Epstein abused more than 1,000 victims.

Maxwell, 63, is serving a 20-year sentence in the federal correctional institution in Tallahassee.

The House Oversight Committee, which is controlled by President Donald Trump‘s fellow Republicans, intends to issue a subpoena for the Epstein files, a spokesperson for the panel said Wednesday.

The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday reported that a recent review of Epstein-related documents by the DOJ and FBI found that Trump’s name appeared multiple times in the files, and that the president was informed of that by Attorney General Pam Bondi in May, weeks before the DOJ said it would not make public those files.

Trump had been friends with Epstein years ago, before the two men had a falling out. There are many well-known people whose names have appeared in publicly released documents related to Epstein, and their presence in those records is not necessarily a sign of wrongdoing.

Blanche previously served as one of Trump’s criminal defense lawyers, and represented him last year when Trump was convicted in New York state court of falsifying business records related to a 2016 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels by his then-personal lawyer Michael Cohen.

Maxwell was convicted at trial in 2021 in U.S. District Court in Manhattan of crimes related to procuring and grooming teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein.

She has asked the Supreme Court to take her appeal of the conviction.

Epstein, 66, died from what was officially ruled a suicide, in a federal jail in Manhattan in August 2019. He had been arrested weeks earlier on child sex trafficking charges.

Epstein had pleaded guilty in 2008 to a Florida state charge of procuring a minor girl for prostitution.

His sudden death in federal custody and his friendships with many powerful and wealthy people have fueled conspiracy theories about Epstein and his circle for years.

The DOJ, in a memo released earlier this month, said that a “systematic review” of evidence assembled in investigations of Epstein “revealed no incriminating ‘client list.'”

“There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions,” the memo said. “We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.”

The memo also concurred with the years-old medical examiner’s ruling that Epstein had committed suicide.

“One of our highest priorities is combatting child exploitation and bringing justice to victims. Perpetuating unfounded theories about Epstein serves neither of those ends,” the DOJ memo said.

“To that end, while we have labored to provide the public with maximum information regarding Epstein and ensured examination of any evidence in the government’s possession, it is the determination of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation that no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.”