Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell expected to meet with DOJ on Thursday
The sit-down, if it happens, would come just two days after Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said he intended to meet with Maxwell to ask her what she knew about potentially other people who sexually abused girls and young women connected to Epstein.
It also would come as the Trump administration continues to face strong pressure to release evidence related to Epstein's crimes, weeks after the DOJ said it would withhold information in the so-called Epstein files despite prior promises that they would be made public.
"If Ghislaine Maxwell has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the DOJ will hear what she has to say," Blanche wrote in a post on the social media site X on Tuesday.
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, Florida.
It was unclear Thursday morning whether the planned visit with the DOJ would take place there or elsewhere.
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. 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."
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