US politics live: Jeffrey Epstein's former lawyer says co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell is the key, and ‘knows everything'

News.com.au

14 hours ago

Welcome to another week of politics in the United States. This one promises to be as dramatic as ever.
President Donald Trump is still seeking to shift Americans' focus away from the Jeffrey Epstein case. To that end, the Department of Justice has now moved to release grand jury testimony from the prosecutions of both Epstein and his chief co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell. Mr Trump hopes that will mollify his supporters.
However, even if the courts decide that information can be released, it will only represent a small fraction of the so-called 'Epstein files', as high profile lawyer Alan Dershowitz pointed out today.
'Grand jury information is narrowly tailored by prosecutors only to provide sufficient evidence to result in an indictment,' Mr Dershowitz, who represented Epstein in the past, told Fox News Sunday.
'What's much, much more important is discovery information, depositions and other things that came out of the Ghislaine Maxwell case, (and) that came out of other cases that were pending in front of federal judges.
'All of that should be revealed as well.'
He cited the case of Britain's Prince Andrew as an example.
And Mr Dershowitz said Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for her part in Epstein's sex trafficking crimes, was 'the Rosetta Stone'.
'She arranged every single trip with everybody. She knows everything,' he said, suggesting Maxwell could testify before Congress.
Mr Trump has been on something of a social media spree today.
In one post, he claimed the Epstein controversy had actually helped his approval ratings, particularly among Republican voters.
'My Poll Numbers within the Republican Party, and MAGA, have gone up, significantly, since the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax was exposed by the Radical Left Democrats and, just plain 'troublemakers',' he said.
'They have hit 90 per cent, 92 per cent, 93 per cent, and 95 per cent, in various polls, and are all Republican Party records. The General Election numbers are my highest, EVER!'
The President did not cite any specific poll.
Mr Trump has also been returning to a few of his past hits in the culture wars. For example, he's called for NFL franchise the Washington Commanders and baseball team the Cleveland Guardians to change their names back to the Redskins and Indians, respectively.
Both franchises previously changed their names because of concerns they were insensitive towards Native Americans.
'My statement on the Washington Redskins has totally blown up, but only in a very positive way,' said Mr Trump.
'I may put a restriction on them if they don't change the name back to the original 'Washington Redskins' and get rid of the ridiculous moniker 'Washington Commanders'. I won't make a deal for them to build a stadium in Washington.
'Cleveland should do the same with the Cleveland Indians.'
On a more substantive matter, the White House is reportedly frustrated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. One Trump official, who was not named, told Axios that Mr Netanyahu has been acting 'like a madman' and 'bombs everything all the time'.
'Netanyahu is sometimes like a child who just won't behave,' another official said. Slightly patronising, you might say.