Latest news with #Ghislaine Maxwell
News.com.au
39 minutes ago
- Politics
- News.com.au
Ghislaine Maxwell' lawyer said he is ‘finally able to ‘reveal what really happened'
Ghislaine Maxwell will 'finally be able to say what really happened,' her lawyer has said as the convicted sex trafficker meets with a top White House official for a second day. There are questions about the aim of the meetings with a Democrat saying it 'really stinks'. Donald Trump had earlier said if she had incriminating information 'the Justice Department will hear what she has to say'. As the US President left for a visit to the UK on Friday, he was asked if he was considering pardoning Maxwell, the accomplice of the late Jeffrey Epstein. He replied he 'hadn't thought about' it but also said the he was 'allowed to do it'. The comments comes as the Wall Street Journal, which last week claimed that Mr Trump had written a happy birthday note to Epstein in 2003, has now reported that former president Bill Clinton did the same. The tumult over the Epstein files has consumed the Trump administration for three weeks after the Justice Department said it would not release any more files on the matter and there was no Epstein 'client list'. It's split the MAGA base, many of who have consumed years of rumours and theories about who and what is contained within the files and whether it's the tip of a wider scandal. Yet no evidence has emerged to suggest that was the case. Last week, more images emerged of Donald Trump with the pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. A newspaper also reported the US president was told his name was in the files. The White House has pushed back on the reports. Due to how many people Epstein knew, it's likely many people's names are contained in the files and there is no suggestion of wrongdoing simply by being mentioned, that includes Mr Trump. Despite the Justice Department saying there was no 'client list,' as he boarded Air Force One for Scotland on Friday, Mr Trump said there was a 'list' of Epstein associates. 'You should focus on (Bill) Clinton. You should focus on the (former) president of Harvard, you should focus on some of the hedge fund guys. I'll give you a list,' he said. Again there is no evidence of any wrongdoing by those Mr Trump mentioned. On Friday, US deputy Attorney-General Todd Blanche said he would meet Ghislaine Maxwell for a second day of questioning at a federal courthouse in Tallahassee, Florida, close to where she is imprisoned for sex trafficking including that of a minor among other crimes. After Thursday's meeting, Mr Blanche, who was previously Mr Trump's personal lawyer, said on X that 'The Department of Justice will share additional information about what we learned at the appropriate time'. Maxwell 'finally able to say what really happened' Maxwell's lawyer, David Oscar Markus, told reporters after the meeting with Mr Blanche that 'she answered all of the questions truthfully, honestly and to the best of her ability.' He said that 'if you looked up scapegoat in the dictionary,' Maxwell's face would be there. 'We're grateful for this opportunity to finally be able to say what really happened, and that's what we're going to do, yesterday and today. 'We just ask that folks look at what she has to say with an open mind, and that's what Deputy Attorney-General Todd Blanche has promised us, and everything she says can be corroborated, and she's telling the truth. 'She's got no reason to lie at this point, and she's going to keep telling the truth,' Mr Marcus claimed. Maxwell meeting 'really stinks' On Capitol Hill, Democrat Senator Richard Blumenthal said it was a 'secret meeting' that 'really stinks' and looked like 'some kind of cover up'. There have been calls for the meeting to be recorded. Democrat Congressman Robert Garcia, who is on the House Oversight Committee, said the meeting was 'incredibly suspicious' and 'dangerous' and he was concerned no members of the committee were present. 'She probably wants a pardon from Donald Trump, and so her meeting with Trump's Department of Justice cannot be trusted, and anything she says must be corroborated with documents and records from the actual Epstein files,' he said. Claim Clinton also sent Epstein birthday message On Thursday, US time, the Wall Street Journal reported that Bill Clinton, who was US president during much of the 1990s, also sent Jeffrey Epstein a message for his now infamous 50th birthday album. His reported message read: 'It's reassuring isn't it, to have lasted as long, across all the years of learning and knowing, adventures and (not legible word) and also to have your childlike curiosity, the drive to make a difference and the solace of friends'. Mr Clinton has not commented but a spokesman said he stopped associating with Epstein years before his arrest and was not aware of his claims. Mr Trump, who has denied he also sent a message for the book, has also said he cut ties prior to Epstein's; legal issues and in fact barred him from Mar-a-Lago. It's been reported that many other notable people wrote notes for the birthday book including fashion designer Vera Wang.
Forbes
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Forbes
Will Trump Pardon Ghislaine Maxwell? President Says He's ‘Allowed' To Do It
President Donald Trump did not rule out the possibility of pardoning Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell on Friday—saying he hadn't 'thought about' the possibility but is 'allowed' to pardon her—as Maxwell's interview with Justice Department prosecutors this week has sparked new questions about whether the Trump administration could offer her a pardon in exchange for exonerating the president from Epstein's crimes. Ghislaine Maxwell and now-President Donald Trump attend the 50th Anniversary of the Ford Modeling ... More Agency in New York City on Oct. 30, 1997. NY Daily News via Getty Images Trump was asked about the possibility of pardoning Maxwell as she enters her second day of questioning by the DOJ and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted on charges of sex trafficking and transporting minors to participate in illegal sex acts, stemming from her role in Epstein's alleged sexual abuse. Trump told reporters he 'hadn't thought about' pardoning Maxwell or commuting her sentence, adding, 'I'm allowed to do it, but it's something I have not thought about.' The president did not respond to a follow up question asking if that meant he had not ruled out the possibility of pardoning Maxwell. The DOJ's interview with Maxwell has sparked criticism that it could tee up a potential pardon, as legal experts speculate the Epstein associate has little reason to speak with prosecutors unless it could benefit her case. Legal analysts have suggested the Trump administration could pardon Maxwell in exchange for testimony that's favorable to Trump, with former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman telling CNN prosecutors are hoping Maxwell 'will be motivated to say that Donald Trump didn't know what Jeffrey Epstein was up to with underage girls and they never participated in that.' This story is breaking and will be updated.
The Guardian
5 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Justice department deputy head to interview Ghislaine Maxwell again in Florida
Deputy US attorney general Todd Blanche is due to have a second in-person meeting on Friday with Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex trafficker and longtime associate of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Blanche had confirmed the two met behind closed doors in Tallahassee, Florida, on Thursday, at the federal prosecutor's office within the federal courthouse in the state capital. Maxwell's lawyer, David Oscar Markus, speaking separately after Thursday's meeting, said: 'We had a very productive day today with the deputy attorney general Todd Blanche and Ghislaine Maxwell.' Images captured by ABC News on Thursday showed Blanche and his entourage, including acting associate deputy attorney general Diego Pestana, entering the US attorney's office. Markus told reporters that Maxwell answered each of Blanche's questions. 'We don't want to comment about the substance of the meeting for obvious reasons,' he added. Blanche had announced earlier in the week that he had reached out to Maxwell's lawyers to see if she might have 'information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims'. Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence at a federal prison in Tallahassee, after a jury convicted her of sex trafficking in 2021. An uproar continues to engulf Donald Trump and calls have intensified for his administration to release all details of the federal investigation into Epstein, while questions remain about whether Maxwell has any fresh light to shed on her former boyfriend's crimes. Meanwhile, the US supreme court is due to wade into the controversy and decide whether to hear a bid by Maxwell to overturn her criminal conviction. Epstein killed himself in 2019 in a jail cell in New York while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. Trump, dogged by questions about his ties to Epstein, headed to Scotland on Friday for a trip that will mix golf with politics mostly out of public view. Protests await the president in the UK over his extreme agenda while scandal nips at his heels in the US. Blanche wrote on X that he met Maxwell on Thursday and will continue his interview of her on Friday. The justice department, he said, 'will share additional information about what we learned at the appropriate time'. Although the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, earlier this year had promised to release additional materials related to possible Epstein clients, the justice department reversed course this month and issued a memo concluding there was no basis to continue investigating and there was no evidence of a client list or blackmail. Since then, the department has sought permission to unseal grand jury transcripts from its prior investigations into Epstein and Maxwell. On Wednesday, US district judge Robin Rosenberg denied one of those requests. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion Trump's name, along with many other high-profile individuals, appeared multiple times on flight logs for Epstein's private plane in the 1990s, while several media outlets have this month reported previously unpublicized and positive communications from the US president to the high-profile financier. Meanwhile, the supreme court justices, now on their summer recess, are expected in late September to consider whether to take up the appeal by Maxwell against her conviction in 2021 by a jury in New York for helping Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls. Maxwell's lawyers have told the supreme court that her conviction was invalid because a non-prosecution and plea agreement that federal prosecutors had made with Epstein in Florida in 2007 also shielded his associates and should have barred her criminal prosecution in New York. Her lawyers have a Monday deadline for filing their final written brief in their appeal to the court. Some legal experts see merit in Maxwell's claim, noting that it touches on an unsettled matter of US law that has divided some of the nation's regional federal appeals courts. Mitchell Epner, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice, said there is a chance that the supreme court takes up the case, and noted the disagreement among appeals courts. Such a split among circuit courts can be a factor when the nation's top judicial body considers whether or not to hear a case. 'The question of whether a plea agreement from one US attorney's office binds other federal prosecution as a whole is a serious issue that has split the circuits,' Epner said. While uncommon, 'there have been several cases presenting the issue over the years', Epner added. The justice department wants Maxwell's criminal case appeal to be rejected.
The Independent
6 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Ghislaine Maxwell set for second day of grilling by ex-Trump lawyer Blanche after ‘she answered every question'
Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, is set to face a second day of questioning from a top Justice Department official Friday to see if she has additional information about the highly-scrutinized case. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche is interviewing Maxwell at a federal courthouse in Tallahassee, Florida. She will be transported to the court from the nearby federal prison where she is serving her 20-year sentence for sex trafficking. Blanche's interview will be a continuation of questioning from Thursday. It's unclear what exactly Blanche is asking Maxwell. The top DoJ lawyer said he wanted to discuss with Maxwell others who may have 'committed crimes against victims.' Maxwell's attorney, David Oscar Markus, declined to clarify what exactly Blanche had asked or what Maxwell had answered so far. However, he said his client answered 'all of the questions truthfully, honestly and to the best of her ability.' It is a turbulent moment for the Trump administration which has faced public uproar after DOJ announced earlier this month there would be no further disclosures from the so-called 'Epstein Files' about his sex trafficking scheme. Many in Trump's MAGA base had boosted conspiracy theories about those involved with Epstein – believed to be a network of high-profile individuals, including some in the government. Senior members of the administration, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino, had previously made claims that there was more to the Epstein case than publicly disclosed. But the sudden reversal disappointed and outraged supporters. Some MAGA supporters and Democrats have accused Trump and officials in the administration of covering up information to protect those involved.
BBC News
a day ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Justice department official expected to speak to Epstein accomplice Maxwell
Jeffrey Epstein's long-time associate Ghislaine Maxwell is meeting justice department officials as pressure grows to release files linked to the financier's sex trafficking network, US media comes after Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said he planned to speak to Maxwell about any information she had on other people whom Epstein may have helped sexually abuse girls. Maxwell is being interviewed on Thursday at the US attorney's office in Tallahassee, Florida, where she is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking, ABC News lawyer told the BBC that Maxwell was looking "forward to her meeting", which could help determine whether she will testify before Congress. The latest developments come as interest has switched back to Ghislaine Maxwell, a convicted sex-trafficker in prison for helping Epstein abuse young have grown from the public - including President Donald Trump's loyal supporters - and lawmakers for the justice department to release files related to the Epstein case. "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," Blanche wrote in a post on X earlier this week. On Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi informed Trump during a May briefing that his name appeared in DOJ documents related to the Epstein case. The White House has pushed back dismissing the story as "fake news". Being named in the documents is not evidence of any criminal activity, nor has Trump ever been accused of wrongdoing in connection with the Epstein campaigning for the presidency last year, Trump had promised to release such files about the well-connected sex his supporters have since grown frustrated with the administration's handling of the issue, including its failure to deliver a rumoured "client list" of Epstein. In a memo earlier this month, the justice department and FBI said there was no such died in a New York prison cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, following an earlier conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor. His death was ruled a suicide. In the years since, conspiracy theories about the nature of his crimes and his death itself have proliferated. On Wednesday, a sub-committee of the US House of Representatives voted to subpoena the justice department for the files, which must be signed off by the committee chairman. Republicans on the House Oversight Committee have also subpoenaed Maxwell to testify before the panel remotely from prison on 11 August. House Speaker Mike Johnson has warned that Maxwell - who for years helped Epstein groom and sexually abuse girls - cannot be trusted to provide accurate attorney, David Oscar Markus, told the BBC the concerns were "unfounded" and that if she chooses to testify, rather than invoke her constitutional right to remain silent, "she would testify truthfully, as she always has said she would".Last week, the justice department asked a federal judge to release years-old grand jury testimony related to a 2006 Florida investigation into Epstein, but a federal judge in the state on Wednesday declined to make the documents public.
