Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell attend de Grisogono Sponsors The 2005 Wall Avenue Live performance Sequence Benefiting Wall Avenue Rising, with a Efficiency by Rod Stewart, at Cipriani Wall Avenue in New York Metropolis on March 15, 2005.
Joe Schildhorn | Patrick McMullan | Getty Pictures
Deputy Legal professional Common Todd Blanche accomplished 9 hours of conferences over two days with Ghislaine Maxwell on Friday however made no public statements about what she mentioned or the subsequent steps within the Justice Division’s much-criticized Jeffrey Epstein investigation.
Former prosecutors mentioned it was extremely uncommon — and probably unprecedented — for a the division’s No. 2 official to personally interview a witness. Secrecy in a legal investigation is regular, however the prosecutors concerned within the case would sometimes be included in questioning.
“I’ve by no means heard of a deputy legal professional normal doing something like this earlier than,” mentioned a former senior Justice Division official, who spoke on situation of anonymity.
Victims of Epstein and Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 of recruiting and grooming a number of teenage ladies to be sexually abused by the late financier, questioned the shortage of transparency as nicely. Jack Scarola, a lawyer representing roughly 20 Epstein victims, mentioned he requested to attend the Maxwell interviews however was not included.
Berit Berger, a former federal prosecutor in New York, mentioned the interviews by Blanche, who labored as Trump’s former protection lawyer, could also be performative.
“It might be only a manner of having the ability to say, ‘Look, we dotted each I and crossed each T,'” she mentioned. “There’s worth to having the ability to say that we have tried to talk to everybody we presumably may, together with the co-defendant.”
Legal professional Common Pam Bondi, Blanche and President Donald Trump himself have struggled to quell the uproar because the DOJ and FBI introduced on July 6 that an exhaustive Epstein case assessment had not uncovered proof that justified investigating different people. FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino — who’ve each unfold conspiracy theories concerning the Epstein case — backed these findings and a DOJ determination to launch no different Epstein case paperwork.
Catherine Christian, a former Manhattan assistant district legal professional and an NBC Information authorized analyst, mentioned the Maxwell interviews is also an effort to guard Trump, who now faces one of many largest political crises of his second time period within the furor over the Epstein investigation.
From left, Donald Trump and his girlfriend (and future spouse), former mannequin Melania Knauss, financier (and future convicted intercourse offender) Jeffrey Epstein, and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell pose collectively on the Mar-a-Lago membership in Palm Seashore, Florida on Feb. 12, 2000.
Davidoff Studios Pictures | Archive Photographs | Getty Pictures
Trump, like dozens of different rich Individuals, socialized with Epstein. He is amongst a whole lot of people whose names seem in 100,000 pages of Epstein case paperwork reviewed by the DOJ and the FBI.
“It is exhausting to consider that is something however performative,” Christian mentioned. “Or Todd Blanche, simply eager to have her on the file saying, ‘Sure, President Trump had nothing to do with any of this. He was not a shopper.'”
What was Maxwell requested?
Maxwell’s lawyer, David Oscar Markus, is a prime Florida legal protection lawyer and a good friend of Blanche’s. Blanche appeared on Markus’ podcast in 2024, the place the host praised Blanche’s authorized abilities. After Friday’s assembly with Blanche and Maxwell, Markus advised reporters that the deputy legal professional normal “did a tremendous job” and requested Maxwell thorough questions.
“She was requested perhaps about 100 totally different individuals,” mentioned Markus, who didn’t disclose which people Maxwell was questioned about. “She answered questions on all people, and he or she did not maintain something again,” he mentioned. “They requested about each single, each attainable factor you may think about, every thing.”
A senior administration official, who spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of he was not approved to talk publicly, mentioned that Maxwell was granted restricted immunity by the Justice Division to reply questions concerning the Epstein case.
Granting restricted immunity is frequent in legal circumstances and permits defendants to supply info with out concern that it is going to be used towards them in court docket.
The immunity is “restricted” as a result of it solely applies if the defendant is telling the reality. Whether it is decided {that a} defendant lied through the interviews, then the settlement turns into void. Prosecutors can consider a defendant’s cooperation and suggest a plea deal or a lowered sentence.
This isn’t anticipated in Maxwell’s case, as she has already been convicted and sentenced to twenty years in federal jail. Maxwell’s lawyer, Markus, has argued that Maxwell’s trial was unfair and an attraction of her conviction is pending earlier than the Supreme Courtroom.
Potential pardon or commutation
Trump, like all presidents, has the ability to pardon or commute the sentence of anybody convicted of a federal crime. Requested about Epstein’s case on Friday morning, Trump mentioned the main focus must be on different individuals who socialized with Epstein, reminiscent of former President Invoice Clinton and Larry Summers, the previous treasury secretary and Harvard College president.
“It’s best to give attention to Clinton,” the president advised reporters. “It’s best to give attention to the president of Harvard, the previous president of Harvard. It’s best to give attention to a few of the hedge fund guys.”
“I am going to offer you a listing. These guys lived with Jeffrey Epstein. I positive as hell did not,” Trump mentioned.
Requested if he was contemplating granting Maxwell a pardon or commuting her sentence, Trump mentioned, “It is one thing I have never thought of.”
“I am allowed to do it,” he added.
U.S. Deputy Legal professional Common Todd Blanche speaks to the media, after the U.S. Supreme Courtroom dealt a blow to the ability of federal judges by limiting their means to grant broad authorized reduction in circumstances because the justices acted in a authorized struggle over President Donald Trump’s bid to restrict birthright citizenship, within the Press Briefing Room on the White Home in Washington D.C., June 27, 2025. no
Ken Cedeno | Reuters
Mimi Rocah, a former federal prosecutor in New York, mentioned she believes the latest firing of Maurene Comey, a lead prosecutor within the Maxwell case and the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, was an effort to offer Trump appointees full management of the Maxwell case, restrict transparency and silence dissent.
“That doesn’t appear coincidental. It looks like they needed Maurene to not be current within the Division of Justice,” Rocah mentioned. “To have the ability to say, ‘What the heck, you’ll be able to’t go discuss to my shopper or my defendant.'”
Rocah, a Democrat who served as Westchester County district legal professional from 2020 to 2024, criticized Blanche’s conferences with Maxwell, saying his obvious failure to incorporate a prosecutor with deep information of her crimes was unfair to Epstein’s victims.
“The top of that complete establishment that’s imagined to be about defending victims is speaking to her, giving her a platform to say God is aware of what, with out a lot strategy to confirm it or not,” Rocah mentioned. “The true individuals who may take a look at her truth-telling are the individuals who labored on the case, not Todd.”
