Trump: Epstein grand jury records unlikely to satisfy critics
More: $10 billion lawsuit. More documents coming. Here's the latest on Trump and Epstein.
Trump previously accused the Biden administration of hiding a list of Epstein clients.
The Department of Justice teased that more files would be coming out, but then on July 7, Attorney General Pam Bondi said there was no client list and no further disclosure was needed.
That led to a wave of backlash from Trump's MAGA base.
"No one believes there is not a client list," Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, a close Trump ally, posted on X July 8.
On July 18, federal prosecutors asked a federal court in Manhattan to unseal grand jury transcripts in the criminal cases against Epstein and his former associate Ghislaine Maxwell. Epstein's federal sex-trafficking case was still pending when he was found dead in a jail cell in 2019.
"Based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval," Trump wrote on social media.
Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who filed legislation to release all the government's Epstein records, wrote in social media post that Trump's move indicates the pressure campaign is "working."
"But we want all the files," Massie added.
It could take time for the courts to release any records, and the grand jury documents are just a portion of the unreleased files.
"What about videos, photographs and other recordings?" Democratic Rep. Daniel Goldman, a former prosecutor, wrote on social media in response to Bondi saying she'd seek the release of grand jury testimony. "What about FBI... (witness interviews)? What about texts and emails?"
Contributing: Zac Anderson, Aysha Bagchi, Joey Garrison.
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North Wales Chronicle
12 minutes ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Ghislaine Maxwell finishes Epstein interviews with Justice Department officials
'She answered those questions honestly, truthfully, to the best of her ability,' David Oscar Markus told reporters outside the federal courthouse in Tallahassee, Florida, where Maxwell met 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,' Mr 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, Mr 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. Mr 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. Mr Markus said Maxwell 'was asked maybe about 100 different people'. 'The deputy attorney general is seeking the truth,' Mr Markus said. 'He asked every possible question, and he was doing an amazing job.' Mr Markus said he did not ask for anything for Maxwell in return, though he acknowledged that Mr 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,' Mr Markus said. Earlier this month, 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, Mr 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.
The Independent
39 minutes ago
- The Independent
US-China trade talks: Can China reduce its export dependence?
China's high dependence on exports will likely be a key focus of a new round of U.S.- China trade talks this coming week in Stockholm, but a trade deal would not necessarily help Beijing to rebalance its economy. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said he hopes the negotiations can take up this issue, along with China's purchases of oil from Russia and Iran, which undercut American sanctions on those two countries. Hopes rose for a breakthrough in talks after U.S. President Donald Trump announced deals with Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines this week. The U.S. wants China to do two things: Reduce what both the U.S. and the European Union see as excess production capacity in many industries, including steel and electric vehicles. And secondly, to take steps to increase spending by Chinese consumers so the economy relies more on domestic demand and less on exports. 'We could also discuss the elephant in the room, which is this great rebalancing that the Chinese need to do,' Bessent told financial news network CNBC. He said China's share of global manufacturing exports at nearly 30%, 'can't get any bigger, and it should probably shrink.' China is tackling the same issues — for domestic reasons The issues are not new, and China has been working to address them for years, more for domestic reasons than to reduce its trade surpluses with the U.S. and other countries. Bessent's predecessor as treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, made industrial policy a focus of a trip to China last year. She blamed government subsidies for flooding the global market with 'artificially cheap Chinese products.' The European Union, whose top leaders met their Chinese counterparts in Beijing on Thursday, has cited subsidies to justify EU tariffs on electric vehicles made in China. In the 1980s, the U.S. pressured Japan to boost consumer spending when American manufacturing was overwhelmed by exports from the likes of Toyota and Sony. Economists have long argued that China likewise needs to transform into a more consumer-driven economy. Consumer spending accounts for less than 40% of China's economy, versus close to 70% in the United States and about 54% in Japan. Chinese leaders have spoken about both factory overcapacity and weak consumer spending as long-term problems and have sought over the past 20 years to find ways to rebalance the economy away from export manufacturing and massive investments in dams, roads, railways and other infrastructure. Fierce price wars have prompted critical reports in official media saying that companies are 'racing to the bottom,' skimping on quality and even safety to reduce costs. With strong government support, they've also expanded overseas, where they can charge higher prices but still undercut local competitors, creating a political backlash. Economists say China needs a consumer-driven economy All that competition and price cutting has left China battling deflation, or falling prices. When companies receive less for their products, they tend to invest less. That can lead to job cuts and lower wages, sapping business activity and spending power — contrary to the long-term goal of increasing the share of consumer spending in driving overall growth. To counter that, the government is spending billions on rebates and subsidies for people who trade in their cars or appliances for new ones. But acknowledging a problem and solving it are two different things. Economists say more fundamental changes are needed to boost consumption and rein in overcapacity. Such changes can only come incrementally over time. Private Chinese companies and foreign-invested companies create the most jobs, but they've suffered from swings in policy and pressures from the trade war, especially since the pandemic. Demographic changes are another challenge as China's population shrinks and ages. Many experts advocate expanding China's social safety net, health insurance, pensions and other support systems, so that people would feel freer to spend rather than save for a medical emergency or retirement. Yan Se, an economist at Peking University's Guanghua School of Management, warned at a recent forum that deflation will become a long-term issue if China doesn't step up its welfare benefits. 'Chinese people deserve a better life," he said. Facing external threats, China wants to be more self-reliant One possibility, put forward at the same forum by Liu Qiao, the dean of the business school, would be to change incentives for local government officials, rewarding them for raising consumption or household incomes instead of meeting an economic growth target. He doesn't see that happening nationwide but said it could be tested in a province. 'That would send out a message that China needs a different approach,' he said. Chinese leader Xi Jinping has made transforming the country into a technology superpower a top priority. It's a goal that has gained urgency as the U.S. has tightened restrictions on China's access to high-end semiconductors and other advanced knowhow. Output in high-tech manufacturing is growing quickly, adding to potential overcapacity, just as what happened with the government's encouragement of 'green' technologies such as solar panels and wind turbines. Various industries, including EV makers, have pledged to address the issue, but some local governments are striving to keep money-losing enterprises afloat, reluctant to lose tax revenues and jobs, or to fail to meet economic growth targets. Going forward, the government is calling for more coordination of economic development polices in fields such as artificial intelligence so that not every province champions the same industry. But government moves to counter the impact of higher tariffs tend to support sectors already in overcapacity, and the share of consumption in the economy has fallen in recent years. 'A sustained improvement in household consumption will require greater reform ambition,' the World Bank said in its most recent update on China's economy." ___
The Independent
39 minutes ago
- The Independent
What does Ghislaine Maxwell really know and why the Epstein files go deeper than you think
The conspiracies began circulating before the proverbial ink was dry. Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire financier and convicted child sex offender, 'dead after 'apparent suicide' in New York jail', ran the headline in The Washington Post on 11 August 2019 (single quote marks theirs). The Boston Globe too described it as an 'apparent suicide'. 'Epstein's jail death gets US scrutiny,' said The Philadelphia Inquirer. When FBI agents arrested Epstein after his private jet landed in New Jersey a month earlier and charged him with sex trafficking minors in Florida and New York, his victims waited to learn the truth. After his death, the voices clamouring for transparency got louder. As did those claiming conspiracy. A year on, when his former girlfriend, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, was arrested by the FBI at a secluded property in New Hampshire, they didn't stop. And they didn't quieten when Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse minors. Over the years, conspiracy theories have abounded of deep state coverups, speculation that rich and powerful men had been involved in an elite sex-trafficking ring, and that Epstein had been murdered so their identities would never be revealed. Donald Trump, on the presidential campaign trail in 2024, fanned the flames further when he announced he'd seek to open the government's 'Epstein files' should he be elected. When he did win the presidency, his attorney general, Pam Bondi, spoke of an Epstein 'client list' sitting on her desk. We knew that a cast of celebrities and politicians were in Epstein's black book — names like Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, Tony Blair, Bill Cosby, and Woody Allen. But how many of those were just recipients of Epstein's political donations, friends, acquaintances? What incriminating evidence lay within the thousands of documents the FBI had assembled in the course of its investigation? Finally, it looked like we were about to find out. Then, earlier this month, Trump's justice department and the FBI suddenly released a two-page unsigned memo concluding Epstein hadn't maintained a client list after all – and what's more, it wouldn't be releasing any further files related to its sex trafficking investigation, despite the promises by Trump and Bondi who had pledged to release a 'truckload' of bombshell FBI documents. Nobody could have foreseen a fissure in the Maga ranks to appear so quickly and prominently. Karl Rove, former White House Deputy Chief of Staff under George Bush, said we were witnessing what happens when conspiracy collides with reality. 'For years,' he said, 'Trump raised questions about Epstein… After assuming the presidency a second time, Mr Trump was obligated to deliver.' When he didn't, 'Many in Maga reacted with incredulity and anger.' Tucker Carlson, once Trump's most vocal cheerleader, turned on him, accusing the administration of betraying its base and of dismissing legitimate questions about Epstein. Each day, the saga seems to unravel further. The Wall Street Journal published a story describing a sexually suggestive letter that the newspaper says bore Trump's name and was included in a 2003 album given to Epstein for his 50th birthday. Trump vehemently denied writing the letter, calling it 'false, malicious, and defamatory'. He then proceeded to sue the paper and its owner, media mogul Rupert Murdoch. While Trump announced he asked Bondi to release 'pertinent' files on the criminal investigation of Epstein, 'subject to court approval', further intrigue was stirred on Wednesday when the WSJ reported that Bondi had informed Trump during briefing back in May that his name appeared in Justice Department documents related to Epstein. The White House pushed back, dismissing the WSJ story as 'fake news'. But an unnamed White House official told Reuters they were not denying that Trump's name appears in the documents. Then, also on Wednesday, a judge rejected the Trump administration's request to unseal transcripts from grand jury documents relating to Epstein from 2005 and 2007 because they did not meet any of the extraordinary exceptions under federal law that could make them public. A day later, an official at the Department of Justice met with Maxwell inside an office in a Florida courthouse. In a statement ahead of that meeting, Deputy attorney General Todd Blanche said: '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.' Their first meeting was described as 'very productive' by Maxwell's lawyer, but for now at least, it's unlikely we'll hear exactly what Maxwell told him. Meanwhile, senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat and fierce Trump critic, took issue with the fact that Trump sent Blanche, his former personal lawyer turned federal prosecutor, to interview Maxwell ahead of her potential public testimony. 'The conflict of interest is glaring. It stinks of high corruption,' he said on X. It's important to understand what, exactly, the Epstein files are – and how they differ from the court documents Trump is now asking to be released. Barry Levine, author of The Spider: Inside the Criminal Web of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, says that the grand jury testimony at issue is very limited and has little to do with the two-decades-long sex trafficking operation that Epstein ran. He says the US attorney at the time, Geoffrey Berman, went in front of a grand jury and presented just enough evidence to successfully bring an indictment. 'And that indictment was very narrow in its content – for the sexual abuse of minors from 2002 to 2005 at Epstein's homes in Palm Beach and New York,' Levine says. 'If you look at the prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell, that prosecution was extremely narrow also in terms of the specific allegations against her.' Maxwell was convicted on five sex-trafficking-related counts. Levine said if these court documents are released, they're going to tell us very little in addition to what we already know. 'It's basically a sliver of the information that's contained in the actual FBI files.' Those files – the 'real' Epstein files, if you like – are, Levine says, incredibly detailed. The FBI files cover every aspect of Epstein's crimes and his life over two decades, including extensive interviews with victims and information that goes all the way back to the original FBI investigation in 2006. Epstein was already a convicted child molester when he was arrested in 2019: in 2008, he pleaded guilty to a state charge in Florida of procuring a minor for prostitution. Back then, a federal investigation into his crimes resulted in a 'non-prosecution agreement'. Alexander Acosta, who was then the US attorney responsible, said he offered a lenient plea deal because he was told Epstein was an intelligence asset. As Levine said, 'We don't know if it was US intelligence or a foreign role as an intelligence asset.' If, indeed, Epstein was an intelligence asset at all. By all accounts, he had a grandiose image of himself as an 'international man of mystery'. The FBI file on Epstein, which dates back to that time, is 300GB. 'That translates to enough information to fill perhaps 100,000 books by some estimates,' Levine says. We don't know if there has ever been any criminal investigation into Trump's conduct as it relates to Epstein. 'But,' Levine said, 'that doesn't necessarily mean that there [aren't] details about Donald Trump in the file because they were friends for 15 years. He was Epstein's wingman after [Trump's] divorce from Ivana Trump; they hung out a great deal. They were still friends during his marriage to Marla Maples and even up to the time when Trump was courting Melania.' Trump and Epstein were friends before, according to the president, they fell out in the early 2000s. By not allowing full disclosure of the Epstein files, Trump has ignited what Levine said is the most infighting within the Maga movement he's ever seen. 'There's a raging inferno in the Maga ranks that Trump has, for the first time in his political career, been unable to put out, and we're seeing individuals who have worshipped him like a God now speaking out against him. It really is fascinating.' So what does Ghislaine Maxwell really know? According to journalist Julie Brown, whose investigation into Epstein for the Miami Herald in 2018 was credited with the FBI re-opening the sexual abuse case against him: everything. 'I think [the DOJ] are trying to get her to say Trump wasn't involved. I think that's the aim of this,' Brown says. 'They're not aiming to expose anybody else who was involved. They're just aiming to clear up any misconceptions around Trump … So far there's been no evidence he was involved with Epstein's crimes at all, but nevertheless, the idea that he shut the investigation down so solidly without even saying, 'we're going to look at this a little bit more' I think makes a lot of people wonder…' Brown, whose 2021 book Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story has recently seen a surge in demand, selling out both in shops and online, says it's unfortunate the way the Trump administration has handled the Epstein Files. 'For a long time, they promised transparency with this case … And I think there was some hope on the part of both the public and the survivors that they would get some answers. Here was a man who abused hundreds of young girls and women over two decades. And he essentially got away with it. 'We don't know why they're not releasing it. It's a little bit disturbing to be announcing all over television that you're going to release these files and then all of a sudden on the Friday after the Fourth of July holiday, when nobody's really paying attention to the news, to issue this statement that basically says there's nothing to see here and we're not going to open the files.' Brown says there are likely a lot of other people involved in Epstein's crimes that haven't been brought to justice; so many, she says, who have avoided prosecution. Epstein was trafficking underage girls for sex over the course of two decades. Because of that, his co-conspirators could number as many as 100, Brown believes. 'He had so many different people work for him at different times – people who helped arrange his 'schedule' in quote marks, lawyers who helped arrange the visas for models that he would bring from overseas, pilots. He had a huge staff of people. The list goes on and on.' As Barry Levine says, we know from the attorney general in the Virgin Islands who investigated Epstein's operation there that 'Epstein was using international fixers to bring women in from all different countries, like Russia and elsewhere.' When Palm Beach police conducted a search of Epstein's home there in 2005, they confiscated hundreds of notepads, the contents of some of which have been made public in civil lawsuits. 'On those, you'll see messages from powerful men who called him,' Brown says. 'They'll have their name, and then it'll say 'I'm at this hotel'. Now, that's not enough to say they were doing anything with underage girls. 'But I know from talking to some of the attorneys representing these survivors that there were powerful people who would come to Palm Beach and basically call to tell Epstein 'I'm here'. And the unspoken or unwritten message was: you can send somebody to me.' Brown believes that it's unlikely Maxwell will ever reveal what is in those files. At her trial, her main line of defence was that it didn't happen – 'that these girls were all making it up to get money out of a very wealthy man.' The truth is, Brown said, Maxwell knows exactly what's in the Epstein files. 'She knows everything. … And she used her motherly way, her nurturing way, to lure these women into this orbit.'
