
Ghislaine Maxwell named about ‘100 different people' during DOJ's Epstein interview, lawyer says
Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking at a federal prison in Florida, faced another day of questioning from Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, about the Epstein case, which has been subject to controversy recently.
'Ghislaine answered every single question asked of her over the last day and a half, she answered those questions honestly, truthfully, to the best of her ability,' Maxwell's lawyer, David Oscar Markus, said.
'She never invoked a privilege. She never refused to answer a question So we're very proud of her.'
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The Guardian
12 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Ghislaine Maxwell is not a victim. And if she is pardoned, it won't be for the sake of justice
Roll up! Roll up! The Ghislaine Maxwell Rehabilitation Tour is coming to town. You may think Jeffrey Epstein's associate and former girlfriend is now behind bars for good reason but, according to some big brains in the Maga-sphere, poor old Maxwell may have suffered a terrible miscarriage of justice. Maxwell 'just might be a victim', Newsmax anchor Greg Kelly mused on air recently. 'She just might be. There was a rush to judgment … All right, granted, she hung out with Jeffrey Epstein, and I know that's apparently not good, but she's in jail. For how long now? Twenty years.' To discuss this further, Kelly brought on Alan Dershowitz, whom he introduced as 'one of the greatest attorneys who ever lived'. Which certainly isn't how I'd describe the retired Harvard professor. Dershowitz, who helped procure a lenient plea deal for Epstein in 2008, also wrote an op-ed for the LA Times in 1997 headlined Statutory Rape Is an Outdated Concept, in which he argued 15 seems 'appropriate' for the age of consent. Dershowitz suggested some 'reasonable people' might even favour 14 – which happens to be the age of some of Epstein's victims. When that op-ed resurfaced in 2019, after Epstein's arrest, Dershowitz defended it, saying he stood by 'the constitutional (not moral) argument' offered. Dershowitz now reckons Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 on five counts of aiding Epstein in his abuse of underage girls and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison in 2022, has suffered enough. 'She shouldn't have been in jail for five years for what she is alleged to have done,' Dershowitz told Newsmax on Sunday. 'She served more time than anybody has ever served for any comparable offence.' I'm sure I don't need to spell out why others seem to be attempting to rebrand Maxwell as the victim of a stitch-up. The Epstein files have turned into a disaster of Trump's own making. He hasn't been able to distract people from the story, so now there is speculation that he is trying to make some sort of deal with Maxwell. Who, by the way, had secretive conversations with Trump's department of justice last week and, on Monday, asked the supreme court to overturn her conviction, saying she was unjustly prosecuted. One can imagine a scenario in which Maxwell releases a few select details about Epstein that absolve Trump and make his enemies look bad in exchange for a pardon. ('I'm allowed to give her a pardon but nobody's approached me with it,' Trump said on Monday.) However, for that hypothetical strategy to be successful, Maxwell's reputation needs to be rehabilitated. She would need to look like a victim rather than a monster. Which is where Newsmax, and its sudden interest in Maxwell, might help. The cable news channel, which is to the right of Fox News, is essentially a pro-Trump propaganda outlet with strong financial ties to the president. Earlier this month the outlet announced that it had struck a deal for the Trump Media and Technology Group Corp to stream Newsmax on its platform. Which obviously raises a lot of conflict-of-interest questions. 'This is now the Trump network,' one Newsmax insider complained to the Independent last week. 'Even the most conservative people at Newsmax think it's a terrible look and they feel like state-run media.' Also raising questions is the fact that Alex Acosta, the prosecutor who gave Epstein that plea deal in 2008, happens to be on the board of Newsmax. I don't know what will happen next with Maxwell, but I can tell you that I absolutely believe the women Epstein abused over anchors on Trump's propaganda channel. And I believe those women over Maxwell herself. Epstein's accusers have repeatedly been clear that Maxwell was no victim. 'She didn't just procure girls for Epstein – she participated in their abuse,' accuser Annie Farmer told ABC News on Monday. Now it's looking increasingly likely that, instead of releasing the Epstein files, Trump will release Maxwell instead. Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist


Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Moment hero police officer commandeers bystander's bike in relentless pursuit of car thief after high speed chase
This is the moment a quick-thinking police officer caught a suspected thief by swapping his patrol car for a passerby's bike. Footage of PC Paddy Connell chasing a stolen Range Rover in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, went viral in April last year. The suspected thief first attempted to flee in reverse before he managed to speed away and hit speeds of 80mph in a 30mph zone. The driver finally crashed the £40,000 car into a row of parked cars before scrambling out and clambering over a fence. PC Connell chased on foot before being helped by a passing cyclist. The Good Samaritan pointed PC Connell in the direction of the suspect before handing over his bicycle, telling the officer: 'Go get em'. After pedalling after the suspect, PC Connell ditched the bike and followed him on foot as he jumped over a wall and headed into a back garden. The officer finally collared the man who was hiding behind a shed and ordered him to lie on the ground before handcuffing him. After pedalling after the suspect, PC Connell ditched the bike and followed him on foot as he jumped over a wall and headed into a back garden A 25-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of theft of a motor vehicle. The 2.30-minute clip of the chase went viral after South Yorkshire Police released the footage. The officer was also called into action on January 28 this year when he arrested a burglar who was on the force's 'most wanted' list. PC Connell spotted a Suzuki Cross 4x4 in Penistone which failed to stop and resulted in a chase lasting almost 30 minutes. During the pursuit the suspect threw items - including a fire extinguisher - from the car. PC Connell dodged the items and was able to deploy a stinger just before a roundabout at junction 37 on the M1. The cop, who has served for 23 years, rammed the Suzuki and two men in the car were arrested. They are due in court later this year. PC Connell has now been crowned the force's Police Officer of the Year. Chief Inspector of Roads Policing Peter Spratt said: 'We are immensely proud of PC Connell, and the recognition he has received. 'He is an integral member of the team and has had so many excellent results with colleagues, bringing offenders to justice and making South Yorkshire safer as a result. 'Our officers regularly put themselves at risk to protect the public, managing these incidents to a safe conclusion through tactics that require dynamic teamwork and skilful implementation of their training. 'Well done PC Connell, you are a credit to the department.'


The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Higher US tariffs part of the price Europe was willing to pay for its security and arms for Ukraine
France's prime minister described it as a 'dark day' for the European Union, a 'submission' to U.S. tariff demands. Commentators said EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen's handshake with President Donald Trump amounted to capitulation. The trouble is, Europe depends mightily on the United States, and not just for trade. Mirroring Trump, Von der Leyen gushed that the arrangement she endorsed over the weekend to set U.S. tariff levels on most European exports to 15%, which is 10% higher than currently, was 'huge.' Her staff texted reporters insisting that the pact, which starts to enter force on Friday, is the 'biggest trade deal ever.' A month after NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte ingratiated himself with Trump by referring to him as 'daddy,' the Europeans had again conceded that swallowing the costs and praising an unpredictable president is more palatable than losing America. 'It's not only about the trade. It's about security. It's about Ukraine. It's about current geopolitical volatility. I cannot go into all the details,' EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič told reporters Monday. 'I can assure you it was not only about the trade,' he insisted, a day after 'the deal' was sealed in an hour-long meeting once Trump finished playing a round of golf with his son at the course he owns in Scotland. The state of Europe's security dependency Indeed, Europe depends on the U.S. for its security and that security is anything but a game, especially since Russia invaded Ukraine. U.S. allies are convinced that, should he win, President Vladimir Putin is likely to take aim at one of them next. So high are these fears that European countries are buying U.S. weapons to help Ukraine to defend itself. Some are prepared to send their own air defense systems and replace them with U.S. equipment, once it can be delivered. 'We're going to be sending now military equipment and other equipment to NATO, and they'll be doing what they want, but I guess it's for the most part working with Ukraine,' Trump said Sunday, sounding ambivalent about America's role in the alliance. The Europeans also are wary about a U.S. troop drawdown, which the Pentagon is expected to announce by October. Around 84,000 U.S. personnel are based in Europe, and they guarantee NATO's deterrent effect against an adversary like Russia. At the same time, Trump is slapping duties on America's own NATO partners, ostensibly due to concerns about U.S. security interests, using Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, a logic that seems absurd from across the Atlantic. Weaning Europe off foreign suppliers 'The EU is in a difficult situation because we're very dependent on the U.S. for security,' said Niclas Poitiers at the Bruegel research institution in Brussels. 'Ukraine is a very big part of that, but also generally our defense is underwritten by NATO.' 'I think there was not a big willingness to pick a major fight, which is the one (the EU) might have needed with the U.S.' to better position itself on trade, Poitiers told The Associated Press about key reasons for von der Leyen to accept the tariff demands. Part of the agreement involves a commitment to buy American oil and gas. Over the course of the Russia-Ukraine war, now in its fourth year, most of the EU has slashed its dependence on unreliable energy supplies from Russia, but Hungary and Slovakia still have not. 'Purchases of U.S. energy products will diversify our sources of supply and contribute to Europe's energy security. We will replace Russian gas and oil with significant purchases of U.S. LNG, oil and nuclear fuels,' von der Leyen said in Scotland on Sunday. In essence, as Europe slowly weans itself off Russian energy it is also struggling to end its reliance on the United States for its security. The Trump administration has warned its priorities now lie elsewhere, in Asia, the Middle East and on its own borders. That was why European allies agreed at NATO's summit last month to spend hundreds of billions of dollars more on defense over the next decade. Primarily for their own security, but also to keep America among their ranks. The diplomacy involved was not always elegant. 'Europe is going to pay in a BIG way, as they should, and it will be your win,' Rutte wrote in a private text message to Trump, which the U.S. leader promptly posted on social media. Rutte brushed off questions about potential embarrassment or concern that Trump had aired it, saying: 'I have absolutely no trouble or problem with that because there's nothing in it which had to stay secret.' A price Europe feels it must pay Von der Leyen did not appear obsequious in her meeting with Trump. She often stared at the floor or smiled politely. She did not rebut Trump when he said that only America is sending aid to Gaza. The EU is world's biggest supplier of aid to the Palestinians. With Trump's threat of 30% tariffs hanging over European exports — whether real or brinksmanship is hard to say — and facing the prospect of a full-blown trade dispute while Europe's biggest war in decades rages, 15% may have been a cheap price to pay. 'In terms of the economic impact on the EU economy itself, it will be negative,' Poitiers said. 'But it's not something that is on a comparable magnitude like the energy crisis after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, or even COVID.' 'This is a negative shock for our economy, but it is something that's very manageable,' he said. It remains an open question as to how long this entente will last. ___