Have a Jeffrey Epstein question? Ask Miami Herald reporter Julie K. Brown
Miami Herald reporter Julie K. Brown first exposed how Epstein was able to get away with sexually abusing hundreds of girls with minimal consequences in her Perversion of Justice investigation. Her reporting on the sweetheart deal federal prosecutors gave Epstein, who counted President Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton and British royal Prince Andrew among his friends, led the Southern District of New York to bring new charges against the financier in 2019. He died in federal custody soon after, in what has been ruled a suicide.
Epstein's accomplice and former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested the following year and convicted in 2021 for her role in recruiting girls for Epstein and participating in their abuse in at least one instance. She's now serving a 20-year sentence at a federal prison in Tallahassee.
Since then, Epstein's network of powerful friends — some of whom were accused of partaking in his sexual abuse — and Epstein's death itself have been the subject of numerous conspiracy theories.
With many of Trump's supporters demanding answers, the U.S. Department of Justice is moving to release testimony from the grand jury that indicted Epstein in 2019. A top Justice Department official is also meeting with Maxwell to see if she can provide more information. The U.S. House Oversight Committee is also set to meet with Maxwell next month.
There's no one who knows the Epstein story better than Brown, who will be answering reader questions to help separate fact from fiction in a story that has captured the public's attention like no other.
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29 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Deputy Attorney General to meet today with Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell
U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche is meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's former girlfriend, on Thursday in Florida, where she is serving time for her role in their sex trafficking scheme to abuse girls, according to a CNN report. Blanche had announced Tuesday that he had contacted Maxwell's attorneys to pursue any potential new leads as Trump's MAGA base excoriates the administration over its handling of the so-called 'Epstein Files.' A July 6 DOJ memo had concluded there were no more significant disclosures to be made in the case. Maxwell will be transported from Florida Correctional Institution-Tallahassee, where she is being held, to the U.S. attorney's office, which is located inside Tallahassee's federal courthouse, ABC News reported. Blanche declined to comment at the courthouse on Thursday morning but David Oscar Markus, an attorney for Maxwell, told ABC: "We're looking forward to a productive day.' Maxwell, 63, was sentenced to 20 years in 2021 for her role in a scheme to sexually exploit and abuse multiple girls with Epstein and is serving time at the federal prison. Her attorneys have taken an appeal of her conviction to the Supreme Court. On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that President Donald Trump was told in May by Attorney General Pam Bondi that his name appeared in the Epstein Files 'multiple times'. The president denied to reporters earlier this month that his name was in the files. Appearing in the files does not indicate that an individual has committed any wrongdoing, nor has Trump ever been accused of misconduct in connection with the Epstein case. 'This is another fake news story, just like the previous story by The Wall Street Journal,' White House communications director Steven Cheung told the WSJ about the claims Trump was named in the files. The president has filed a $10 billion defamation suit against the WSJ and its owners after it published a report last week claiming that Trump gave Epstein a bawdy birthday card in 2003. Trump has vehemently denied the claims. On Tuesday, the House Oversight Committee approved a subpoena for Maxwell. At the White House later that day, Trump said that the subpoena for Maxwell "sounds appropriate." Maxwell's brother praised Trump this week for making a 'positive statement' about his sister, in an interview five years ago, when the president said: 'I wish her well.' Appearing on Piers Morgan Uncensored, Ian Maxwell hailed Trump's 2020 remark. 'I don't think that anyone else showed the slightest piece of humanity, not anybody at that time, and yet he did. He didn't need to. He's the president of the United States, the most powerful man in the world. He could've just sloughed it off. He didn't. He made a positive statement. I am very grateful to that and I know Ghislaine was too,' he said. Last week, Trump requested Bondi release 'any and all pertinent' grand jury transcripts related to the Epstein case. So far two judges have denied Bondi's requests on legal grounds. The White House has been trying to quell the uproar, including from its MAGA base, following the DOJ's July 6 memo, which stated there was no 'client list' of high-profile associates linked to Epstein's sex trafficking scheme. The memo also confirmed the official investigation that the sex offender died by suicide in 2019 and said no further investigations were needed. Earlier this year, Bondi has said she had a 'truckload' of files to review from the FBI, and insinuated that the 'client list' was sitting on her desk. In February, she released 'Phase 1' of the files, a tranche of documents that included mostly publicly available information. After the July 6 DOJ memo was released, the president's MAGA following erupted, demanding more information. Democrats, as well as prominent members of Trump's own party, including his former Vice President Mike Pence, joined the calls for increased transparency around the case. Trump has pushed for the media and his supporters to move on. 'Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy's been talked about for years. You're asking — we have Texas, we have this, we have all of the things. And are people still talking about this guy, this creep? That is unbelievable,' Trump replied to a reporter, who asked him about the Epstein memo at a Cabinet meeting on July 8. The president has used Truth Social to blast his 'past supporters' for buying into 'this 'bulls***,' hook, line and sinker.' He wrote: 'Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats' work, don't even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don't want their support anymore!' Earlier this week, a CNN reporter called Trump to ask about unearthed archived photos capturing Epstein at his 1993 wedding to Marla Maples, the president replied: 'You've got to be kidding me.' The phone call lasted just 30 seconds before Trump hung up, the network reported. Solve the daily Crossword
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30 minutes ago
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Jasmine Crockett unleashes on Ghislaine Maxwell talking to Trump DOJ before Congress: ‘Out of jail for free'
Rep. Jasmime Crockett wants Ghislaine Maxwell — who is serving a 20-year sentence for aiding sex trafficking financier Jeffrey Epstein — to testify before Congress before she speaks under oath to the Trump Justice Department. US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, will meet with Maxwell on Thursday in Florida, where she is serving out her two-decade sentence for scheming with the late pedophile power-player to sexually exploit and abuse young women and girls. The meeting comes just a day after the House Oversight Committee, on which Crockett sits, voted to subpoena Maxwell. On Wednesday, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer issued a subpoena and set Maxwell's deposition date for Aug. 11. 'I don't know that we'll get anywhere, but I know if there's anybody that I want to talk to her, it is us — and not the administration — because at least if she comes before the committee, even if it's behind closed doors, it will be bipartisan,' Crockett, a frequent Trump antagonist, told The Independent. 'It won't just be one side able to ask questions, it'd be both sides, whereas the administration, they're a bunch of thugs,' she railed. 'And frankly, if it means that she can engage in a coverup, he'll most likely let her out of jail free. He's let people out of jail for far less.' This comes after the Department of Justice released a two-page memo on July 6 saying that Epstein, the convicted pedophile, had no 'client list' and died of suicide in his New York City jail cell, where he was found hanged by bed sheets. But Crockett, who spoke to The Independent before Comer issued his subpoena, also cautioned that she did not know if they would actually hear testimony from the once high-flying former socialite Maxwell. 'I don't know if she has appeals that are pending, and I'm sure that her attorneys will have some issues, some questions surrounding so it's more complicated than just subpoenaing her,' the Democrat said. 'We can subpoena all we want to. We have had a number of transcribed interviews as well as depositions over the last two weeks, and frankly, a lot of them ended with nothing because people invoked privilege and things like that.' Crockett has become a fundraising dynamo because of her combative style of questioning on the Oversight Committee and her willingness to joust with Republicans in the majority. But she recently lost her bid to replace the late Gerry Connolly (D-VA) as the top Democrat on the committee to Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA). Garcia told The Independent that subpoenaing Maxwell does not mean the committee trusts her to be truthful. 'She's a documented liar, she's obviously done an enormous amount to harm young girls and and and has an interest, of course, in, in being free,' Garcia said. 'We should still want to have her come testify in front of oversight in the Congress, but, but we should just be very we should understand that this is a very complex witness and someone that has caused great harm and not a good person to a lot of people.' The House of Representatives broke a day early after the House Rules Committee ground itself to a halt because Democrats continued offering amendments to release files related to Epstein. In an attempt to mollify Democrats and some conservatives, Republicans proposed a non-binding House resolution to get the Department of Justice to release files. In addition, Rep. Thomas (R-KY) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) have a discharge petition, which would force a vote and circumvent Speaker Mike Johnson, to release files related to Epstein. Massie, a critic of Trump, accused Johnson of covering for the president. 'He doesn't want a paper-thin sliver of daylight between him and the president, and so that's why he's avoided taking even the symbolic vote on the non-binding resolution,' Massie told The Independent. Trump, a friend of Epstein's for many years before a falling out that appears to have come before it was publicly known the financier was being investigated over his sex trafficking, has criticized his supporters and others for focusing on the Epstein case. He also vehemently denied a story in The Wall Street Journal that he sent Epstein a note for the disgraced financier and predator's 50th birthday party and also filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the newspaper and its owners News Corp and Rupert Murdoch, among others.
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
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Ghislaine Maxwell talked about ‘100 different people' during DOJ's Epstein interview, lawyer says
Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex offender and former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, was 'asked about 100 different people' during her interview with the Department of Justice on Friday, her lawyer said. Maxwell, who is serving 20 years for sex trafficking at a federal prison in Florida, faced a second day of questioning from Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, about the Epstein case. '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 Friday, outside the federal courthouse in Tallahassee, Florida. 'She was asked about maybe about 100 different people. She answered questions about everybody and she didn't hold anything back,' Markus said. 'She never invoked a privilege. She never refused to answer a question. So we're very proud of her.' Blanche interviewed Maxwell Thursday and Friday about others who may have 'committed crimes against victims' as part of the Department of Justice's re-examination of the government's investigation into the Epstein case which has generated much public scrutiny. The Trump administration is facing backlash from its MAGA base for refusing to release more information in the so-called 'Epstein Files.' Despite years of rumors about a so-called 'client list' of high-profile individuals who participated in alleged crimes that Epstein committed, the DoJ and FBI released a memo earlier this month saying no such list existed and no further investigations were warranted. During his brief press conference on Friday, Markus said Maxwell had been 'treated unfairly' for the past five years and that his client had cooperated with the DoJ in its questioning. He said Maxwell did not ask for anything in return, including a pardon. He did however, hint that the president could offer clemency. '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. When asked about Maxwell's questioning Friday morning, President Trump tried to deflect attention away from the situation, encouraging people to 'focus on how well the country is doing.' Trump also said while he had the authority to pardon Maxwell he had not given it much consideration. Epstein, a convicted sex offender, was investigated for conducting a years-long sex-trafficking scheme involving girls and women. Epstein died by suicide while in federal prison in 2019 before a trial could take place. Maxwell was investigated and convicted for her role in the scheme. So far, she's the only other person to be charged in connection to the Epstein case. Despite being found guilty, her attorneys have taken an appeal of her conviction to the Supreme Court. Many in Trump's MAGA base had bolstered conspiracy theories about those involved with Epstein, believing the government was covering-up details involving some of the high-profile individuals involved. Even senior members of his administration, such as FBI Director Kash Patel, and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino, had spoken about their theories in the case before they took up their posts in the administration. But their sudden reversal once in office disappointed and outraged some MAGA supporters who accused them of continuing a government cover-up of information to protect those involved. The president has attempted to divert attention away from the Epstein Files, an effort that has appeared to backfire. In the weeks following the July 6 memo from the DoJ and FBI, a public spotlight has been cast on Trump's former relationship with Epstein. The president previously said the two were friends for many years, but he has denied any involvement in Epstein's crimes. Trump has not been accused of any formal wrongdoing or charged with a crime. Last week, a Wall Street Journal article reported that the president sent Epstein a lewd birthday card referencing 'secrets.' The president denied sending any card and filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the Journal. Reports from CNN and the Journal also claimed that Bondi alerted Trump, in early spring, that his name appeared in the Epstein Files. Being mentioned in the files does not suggest any wrongdoing, and hundreds of other people were also named. The president denied to reporters earlier this month that his name was in the files. When asked if his name was in the files earlier this month, Trump claimed the Epstein Files were 'made up' by former FBI director James Comey, former president Barack Obama, and former president Joe Biden. Solve the daily Crossword
