All eyes on Ghislaine Maxwell as longtime Epstein aide seeks prison relief
Uproar over the Trump administration's handling of files from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation continues to grip Washington, prompting the Justice Department on Tuesday to schedule an unusual meeting with Epstein's top confidant, Ghislaine Maxwell, and the House Oversight Committee to move to subpoena her testimony amid bipartisan calls for transparency in the case.
The renewed focus on Maxwell comes amid persistent questions over Trump's years-long friendship with Epstein, the late and disgraced financier whose sprawling sex-trafficking ring victimized more than 200 women and girls.
Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison for her role in perpetuating one of the most expansive sex-trafficking rings in modern U.S. history.
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It is the first time the Justice Department has approached Maxwell's counsel for a meeting, according to the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, who wrote in a statement that he would take the meeting himself 'to ask: What do you know?'
'No one is above the law — and no lead is off-limits,' said Blanche, formerly one of Trump's personal attorneys.
Politics Trump resists bipartisan calls to release Justice Department files on Jeffrey Epstein
President Trump's loyal base and Democrats alike are now calling for the entire Department of Justice file of Epstein material to be released, an appeal so far rejected by Trump and his aides.
And yet, Republicans and Democrats alike are expressing suspicion over the Justice Department's moves, questioning whether its outreach to Maxwell could be an effort to cut a cooperation agreement with a figure holding unique insights on the president's friendship with Epstein.
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Maxwell's attorney, David Oscar Markus, called Trump 'the ultimate dealmaker' earlier this month, and said this week that Maxwell's team is 'grateful to President Trump for his commitment to uncovering the truth in this case.'
'Ghislaine Maxwell is a federal prisoner right now. Obviously, she wants a pardon, so she will probably sing from whatever hymnal Donald Trump tells her to sing from,' Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland and ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, told CNN this week.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) introduced a binding resolution that would compel the release of FBI files related to the Epstein investigation, drawing a rebuke from Trump on social media Tuesday. And Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), a longtime ally of the president, told reporters that he did not trust what the Justice Department was telling the public about the case.
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'No, I don't. I don't. I don't trust them,' he said. 'I'm big on clarity and transparency, and that's a good reason people don't trust government in either party.'
Burchett motioned in the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday to have the panel proceed with a subpoena for Maxwell to appear for public testimony, a move that was adopted by voice vote.
But to prevent a bipartisan vote on releasing the files from moving on the House floor, House Speaker Mike Johnson planned to send the chamber home for summer recess a day early, telling reporters that there was no purpose in Congress pushing the administration 'to do something they're already doing.'
Epstein, a wealthy financier with a deep bench of powerful friends, died in a New York City prison in August 2019 facing federal charges over a child sex-trafficking conspiracy.
The New York City medical examiner and the inspector general of the Justice Department both ruled Epstein's death was a suicide. But suspicions of conspiracy have surrounded his case and his untimely death due to his known association with some of the country's most powerful men.
Voices Barabak: Here's why Jeffrey Epstein's tangled web is conspiratorial catnip
Combining an ancient trope with modern cynicism, the sex-trafficking scandal has ingredients that keep it fresh long after other conspiracies faded. President Trump used it for political gain.
Photos of Trump, Epstein and Maxwell are widely available, and Trump has acknowledged their friendship in the past.
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'I've known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,' Trump told New York magazine in 2002. 'He's a lot of fun to be with.'
'It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side,' he said. 'No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.'
Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump sent a raunchy 50th birthday card to Epstein that included a sketch of a naked woman, featuring breasts and a squiggly 'Donald' signature mimicking pubic hair. The sketch also included a note that read, 'Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.' Maxwell compiled the album, according to the report.
Trump has begged and scolded his supporters to move on from the controversy, despite stoking conspiracies around the existence of a list of Epstein's clients throughout the 2024 presidential election.
'I would say these files were made up by [former FBI Director James] Comey and [former President] Obama, made up by the Biden' administration, Trump now says, 'and we went through years of that with the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax.'
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Taylor Wilson: So Ghislaine Maxwell is willing to testify before Congress, but what are her conditions here? Aysha Bagchi: One of her prerequisites is she wants immunity if she's going to testify. This is someone who is serving a twenty-year prison sentence right now for very serious criminal convictions. She doesn't want testimony that she gives before Congress to expose her in some sort of way in criminal proceedings. So she's specified that she wants immunity. We don't know what form that would take if Congress would grant her any in order to let her testify, but we do know that she got some sort of limited immunity, there were reports of that anyway, when it comes to discussions she had with the Justice Department last week. In addition to that, she wants to wait to give testimony before Congress until an appeal that she has pending at the U.S. Supreme Court right now has run its course. 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Some courts have said that New York Federal prosecutors were still free to go after her, but that's something that the committee in Congress seems to want to look at. Taylor Wilson: Wow, interesting. Well, Maxwell spoke with Justice Department officials last week. What do we know, if anything, about those conversations? Aysha Bagchi: We don't know much. Most of what we've heard has come from Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyer, not from the government itself. He said that Ghislaine Maxwell answered lots of questions. This took place over two days, not just one day. So it seems to have been quite a lot of interviewing her. He said that she went over 100 people. We don't know what the content of that was. What does it mean for her to have referenced 100 people in relation to Jeffrey Epstein? But we have heard reports that she was given some sort of limited immunity in exchange for this sort of interview. And potentially the idea that Justice Department officials have in mind is to see if she can provide any investigative leads that would actually open up a line of investigation and potential criminal charges against anyone else associated with Jeffrey Epstein. When the Justice Department chose not to release its Epstein files, it said in its announcement about that, that it didn't uncover anything in the files that would merit opening an investigation, a criminal investigation into someone else. So maybe this interview is an opportunity for the Justice Department to look at that again and see if it can open up an investigation into someone else and maybe satisfy kind of the public outrage that has boiled over, including from many of President Trump's own supporters, about this case and questions that sort of linger about potential mysteries surrounding this case or whether the government really has tackled everyone it should tackle when it comes to its evidence surrounding sex trafficking and Jeffrey Epstein. Taylor Wilson: All right, Aysha Bagchi covers the Justice Department for USA TODAY. Thank you, Aysha. Aysha Bagchi: Thanks Taylor. ♦ Taylor Wilson: Environmental Protection Agency will rescind the finding that greenhouse gas emissions put human health in danger as well as tailpipe emission standards for vehicles. 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And while the numbers are subject to change, the EIA said Americans might consume even more power as the summer continues. You can read more with a link in today's show notes. ♦ E-books and more are on the line as Congress considers the future of library funding. I discussed with USA TODAY senior national political correspondent Sarah D. Wire. Sarah, as always, thanks for joining me. Sarah D. Wire: Thanks for having me. Taylor Wilson: All right, so let's go back to March Sarah, when Trump issued an executive order eliminating huge parts of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Can you just start by reminding us what happened here and what's happened since? Sarah D. Wire: Back on March 14th, the president issued an executive order that eliminated most of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. He ordered that it be reduced to its statutory functions. Basically meant that it should be brought down as far as possible. And so suddenly, pretty much the entirety of the Institute's staff were laid off and then really abruptly, three state libraries were informed that their grants had been canceled. Now, state libraries receive between 30 and 50% of their funding through these state grants. And so to have that big cut was panic-inducing for a lot of these states. And then about half of the states in the country sued over losing this money and the judge placed an injunction that ordered the Institute to reinstate the staff, reinstate any cut grants, and that's kind of where things stand there. Taylor Wilson: Well, what is Congress now considering about the future of library funding? Sarah D. Wire: So when the president put forward his budget proposal, he only suggested $5.5 million for the agency with the agency saying that that money was enough to sunset or end the agency. That's a big drop from the nearly 300 million the agency normally receives. We haven't seen any pushback on this from Congress yet, and this Congress has been very willing to back what the president wants. He tried this during his first term. He tried getting rid of the Institute for Museum and Library Services, then Congress pushed back and said they weren't going to do it. There's a big piece of legislation that has to be renewed in September, and we've seen absolutely no movement on that. But that has to be passed in order for the agency to continue existing. Taylor Wilson: Okay, makes sense. And you focus a lot on e-books in this piece, Sarah. How might this action or whatever happens over the next few months impact e-books and what's at stake when libraries and library patrons lose that kind of access? Sarah D. Wire: Every state gets to choose how they spend this federal money, and a lot of states use it to provide e-book services for the entire state. Libraries are leasing e-books instead of buying them outright and often at three to five times the normal cost. And so that cost is just too much for small libraries to bear on their own. So if they lose the federal money, the states can't provide this to local libraries, which means a lot of people are no longer going to be able to check out e-books from their library. Taylor Wilson: Well, Sarah, you're right about a nonprofit that organizes grassroots campaigns for library funding and also blocking book bans. Tell us a bit about this group and what other recourse is there. Can states really filled the gap here? Sarah D. Wire: This organization called Every Library has had a petition drive going on, trying to convince both federal lawmakers and states to prevent the Trump administration from doing this. Some of the state libraries I spoke to said they're worried that states aren't going to be able to step in and fill the gap. It might not seem like a lot. California is the biggest recipient of this money. They receive about $15 million a year, but to fill that gap is not something that they can just dig through the couch cushions and do. But it's also asking a lot for the state to find that money when the state is bringing in less revenue, but they're also having to take on new responsibilities that the federal government has handed down, including more responsibility for Medicaid and paying for a portion of SNAP for the first time. Taylor Wilson: All right. Well, going back even to March, I mean, I just want to get a sense on the Trump administration perspective here, Republican congressional perspective. What is the argument on that side of the coin? Is this just a continued push for getting rid of government bloat? Sarah D. Wire: Yeah, the White House told us back in March that this was an effort to streamline government and get rid of superfluous agencies, but they haven't talked about waste or fraud specifically when it comes to this agency. Taylor Wilson: All right, and what's next going forward? You mentioned this September timeline in terms of how congressional leaders are going to tackle this. Sarah D. Wire: This isn't one of the appropriations bills that Congress has to pass before the end of the year. Congress will probably start taking a look at it when the House and Senate resume in September. Taylor Wilson: All right. Sarah D. Wire covers national politics for USA TODAY. I appreciate you stopping by Sarah. Sarah D. Wire: Thanks for having me. ♦ Taylor Wilson: New York City Mayor Eric Adams said preliminary investigations show the gunman in yesterday's Midtown Manhattan shooting may have intended to target the NFL, but took the wrong elevator. The suspect left behind a three-page note claiming he had chronic CTE from playing football police said. CTE is a brain condition experienced by people who have repeated blows to the head, often through contact sports like football. An NFL employee was reportedly injured in the shooting. We're also learning more about the victims who were killed in the violence. They include Blackstone investment firm employee Wesley LePatner, security officer Aland Etienne, police officer Didarul Islam, and Julia Hyman an associate at Rudin Management. ♦ ICE agents or law enforcement working in that capacity have been recorded arresting people across the country in full masks without any identifying clothing or even telling people who they work for. Mike German: What many studies, going back to the civil unrest during the 1960s and '70s, showed that when law enforcement engages in arbitrary or poorly targeted violence, that often creates more violence. In other words, if they attack a crowd indiscriminately, the crowd will become more violent. Taylor Wilson: That was former FBI agent Mike German, now a fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice. My colleague Dana Taylor sat down with Mike for a conversation about the trend of mass ICE agents and what it means for democracy. You can hear that conversation right here today, today beginning at 4:00 PM Eastern Time. ♦ Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your pods, and if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson. I'll be back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from USA TODAY.
