Maxwell meets Trump official amid pardon speculation in Epstein case
Ghislaine Maxwell will 'finally be able to say what really happened,' her lawyer has said as the convicted sex trafficker meets with a top White House official for a second day.
There are questions about the aim of the meetings with a Democrat saying it 'really stinks'. Donald Trump had earlier said if she had incriminating information 'the Justice Department will hear what she has to say'.
As the US President left for a visit to the UK on Friday, he was asked if he was considering pardoning Maxwell, the accomplice of the late Jeffrey Epstein. He replied he 'hadn't thought about' it but also said the he was 'allowed to do it'.
The comments comes as the Wall Street Journal, which last week claimed that Mr Trump had written a happy birthday note to Epstein in 2003, has now reported that former president Bill Clinton did the same.
The tumult over the Epstein files has consumed the Trump administration for three weeks after the Justice Department said it would not release any more files on the matter and there was no Epstein 'client list'.
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, Friday, July 25, 2025, in Washington. The President is travelling to Scotland. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
It's split the MAGA base, many of who have consumed years of rumours and theories about who and what is contained within the files and whether it's the tip of a wider scandal. Yet no evidence has emerged to suggest that was the case.
Last week, more images emerged of Donald Trump with the pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. A newspaper also reported the US president was told his name was in the files.
The White House has pushed back on the reports. Due to how many people Epstein knew, it's likely many people's names are contained in the files and there is no suggestion of wrongdoing simply by being mentioned, that includes Mr Trump.
Despite the Justice Department saying there was no 'client list,' as he boarded Air Force One for Scotland on Friday, Mr Trump said there was a 'list' of Epstein associates.
'You should focus on (Bill) Clinton. You should focus on the (former) president of Harvard, you should focus on some of the hedge fund guys. I'll give you a list,' he said.
Again there is no evidence of any wrongdoing by those Mr Trump mentioned.
Ghislaine Maxwell was Jeffrey Epstein's right hand woman. (Photo by Handout / US District Court for the Southern District of New York / AFP).
On Friday, US deputy Attorney-General Todd Blanche said he would meet Ghislaine Maxwell for a second day of questioning at a federal courthouse in Tallahassee, Florida, close to where she is imprisoned for sex trafficking including that of a minor among other crimes.
After Thursday's meeting, Mr Blanche, who was previously Mr Trump's personal lawyer, said on X that 'The Department of Justice will share additional information about what we learned at the appropriate time'.
Ghislaine Maxwell pictured in prison.
There are suggestions Ghislaine Maxwell may seek a pardon for her crimes. (Photo by Rob Kim / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
Maxwell 'finally able to say what really happened'
Maxwell's lawyer, David Oscar Markus, told reporters after the meeting with Mr Blanche that 'she answered all of the questions truthfully, honestly and to the best of her ability.'
He said that 'if you looked up scapegoat in the dictionary,' Maxwell's face would be there.
'We're grateful for this opportunity to finally be able to say what really happened, and that's what we're going to do, yesterday and today.
'We just ask that folks look at what she has to say with an open mind, and that's what Deputy Attorney-General Todd Blanche has promised us, and everything she says can be corroborated, and she's telling the truth.
'She's got no reason to lie at this point, and she's going to keep telling the truth,' Mr Marcus claimed.
David Oscar Markus, an lawyer for Ghislaine Maxwell, walks into the federal courthouse, Friday, July 25, 2025, in Tallahassee. (AP Photo/Colin Hackley)
Maxwell meeting 'really stinks'
On Capitol Hill, Democrat Senator Richard Blumenthal said it was a 'secret meeting' that 'really stinks' and looked like 'some kind of cover up'.
There have been calls for the meeting to be recorded.
The Trump defence lawyer and now deputy Attorney-General Todd Blanche has met Ghislaine Maxwell in Florida. (Photo by JEENAH MOON / POOL / AFP)
Democrat Congressman Robert Garcia, who is on the House Oversight Committee, said the meeting was 'incredibly suspicious' and 'dangerous' and he was concerned no members of the committee were present.
'She probably wants a pardon from Donald Trump, and so her meeting with Trump's Department of Justice cannot be trusted, and anything she says must be corroborated with documents and records from the actual Epstein files,' he said.
Ghislaine Maxwell watches as Jeffrey Epstein and US President Bill Clinton shake hands. Picture: WILLIAM J. CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY
Claim Clinton also sent Epstein birthday message
On Thursday, US time, the Wall Street Journal reported that Bill Clinton, who was US president during much of the 1990s, also sent Jeffrey Epstein a message for his now infamous 50th birthday album.
His reported message read: 'It's reassuring isn't it, to have lasted as long, across all the years of learning and knowing, adventures and (not legible word) and also to have your childlike curiosity, the drive to make a difference and the solace of friends'.
Mr Clinton has not commented but a spokesman said he stopped associating with Epstein years before his arrest and was not aware of his claims. Mr Trump, who has denied he also sent a message for the book, has also said he cut ties prior to Epstein's; legal issues and in fact barred him from Mar-a-Lago.
It's been reported that many other notable people wrote notes for the birthday book including fashion designer Vera Wang.
Originally published as Ghislaine Maxwell lawyer claim: 'finally able to 'reveal what really happened'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News AU
an hour ago
- Sky News AU
Donald Trump slams Macron's move to recognise Palestine
US President Donald Trump has rejected French President Emmanuel Macron's plan to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN in September. Mr Macron announced the plan on July 24, aiming to recognise Palestinian statehood at the UN General Assembly in a bid to support peace efforts. The US President claims the move carries no weight.
News.com.au
4 hours ago
- News.com.au
Defence, Foreign Ministers sign new 50-year UK-Australia ‘Geelong Treaty' military pact
Defence and Foreign Ministers from the United Kingdom and Australia have signed a new 50-year military pact designed to underpin Australia's acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines. The deal was signed in Geelong on Saturday, the hometown of Australia's Defence Minister, and dubbed 'The Geelong Treaty'. Officials from Australia and the UK have been forced to voice renewed enthusiasm for the AUKUS agreement, amid a US review of the deal. America's defence and foreign minister-equivalents have not been part of AUKUS meetings in Australia this week. Donald Trump and UK Prime Minster Keir Starmer and expected to meet in Scotland this week. At Geelong on Saturday, Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said the new pact meant jobs and military security. 'It's a treaty which will last for 50 years,' Mr Marles said during a signing ceremony with his UK counterpart. 'It is a bilateral treaty which sits under the trilateral AUKUS framework, itself embodied in a trilateral treaty that was signed that I signed in Washington, DC., in August of last year. 'In doing this, AUKUS will see 20,000 jobs in Australia. It will see, in building submarines in this country, the biggest industrial endeavour in our nation's history, bigger even than the Snowy Hydro scheme,' Mr Marles said. 'In military terms, what it will deliver is the biggest leap in Australia's military capability, really, since the formation of the navy back in 1913.' Alongside Mr Marles, UK Secretary of State for Defence John Healey dubbed the Geelong Treaty a powerful agreement. 'It is a treaty that will support tens of thousands of jobs in both Australia and the UK,' Mr Healey said. 'It is a treaty to build the most advanced, most powerful attack submarines either of our nations have ever had. It is a treaty that will fortify the Indo-Pacific. 'It will strengthen NATO and we're the politicians signing it today; But this is a treaty that will define the relationship between our two nations and safeguard the security of our country for our children and our children's children to come. 'So this is a historic day.' The two ministers have been joined in a series of meetings by Foreign Minster Penny Wong and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy this week. The treaty signing also comes as the largest British flotilla in 30 years arrives in Darwin, with the HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier docking in Darwin on Wednesday. It was the first time a British aircraft carrier visited Australia since 1997, and brought troops to take part in the massive Talisman Sabre exercises, which run annually across northern Queensland and PNG.
7NEWS
4 hours ago
- 7NEWS
Former Jeffrey Epstein girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell shares ‘100 names' in meeting with US Department of Justice
Disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, the imprisoned former girlfriend of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has finished one-and-a-half days of interviews with US Justice Department officials. 'She answered those questions honestly, truthfully, to the best of her ability,' her lawyer David Oscar Markus told reporters outside the federal courthouse in Tallahassee, Florida, where Maxwell met on Friday with Deputy Attorney-General Todd Blanche. 'She never invoked a privilege. She never refused to answer a question, so we're very proud of her,' Markus said. 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, a wealthy, well-connected financier, sexually abuse underage girls. 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, such as royals, presidents and billionaires, including US President Donald Trump. In a social media post this week, Blanche said Maxwell would be interviewed because of President Trump's directive to gather and release any credible evidence about others who may have committed crimes. Trump has denied prior knowledge of Epstein's crimes and claimed he cut off their relationship long ago. But he faces ongoing questions about the Epstein case, overshadowing his administration's achievements. On Friday, reporters pressed the Republican president about pardoning Maxwell, but he deflected, emphasising his administration's successes. Markus said Maxwell 'was asked maybe about 100 different people'. 'The deputy attorney-general is seeking the truth,' Markus said. 'He asked every possible question, and he was doing an amazing job.' Markus said he did not ask for anything for Maxwell in return, though he acknowledged that Trump could pardon her. 'Listen, the president this morning said he had the power to do so. We hope he exercises that power in the right and just way,' Markus said. Earlier in July, 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. Maxwell is appealing against her conviction, based on the government's pledge years ago that any potential Epstein co-conspirators would not be charged, Markus said. Epstein struck a deal with federal prosecutors in 2008 that shifted his case to Florida state court, where he pleaded guilty to soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution. Epstein in 2019 and Maxwell in 2020 were charged in federal court in New York.
