Latest news with #GhislaineMaxwell
Bloomberg
39 minutes ago
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Sealed Epstein Documents to Get Fresh Review in Defamation Case
A federal appeals court opened the door to the release of some documents related to Jeffrey Epstein in a civil case brought by a victim of the disgraced financier. A three-judge panel in New York said Wednesday that a lower court judge had applied the wrong standard in keeping the documents sealed and ordered a new review. The defamation case was brought by Virginia Giuffre against Epstein's former associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Sky News AU
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Sky News AU
‘Interest in this is not going away': House Oversight Committee to summon Ghislaine Maxwell
Sky News contributor Kosha Gada discusses the potential summoning of Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's wife, to give testimony before the House Oversight Committee. 'Epstein's former lawyer, one of his lawyers, Alan Dershowitz, has called her the Rosetta Stone, because she knows everything,' Ms Gada told Sky News host Andrew Bolt. 'The interest in this is not going away; there's massive interest in it across the electorate, but especially among the Republican base.'
The Independent
3 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Ghislaine Maxwell's brother thanks Donald Trump for his ‘positive statement' about his sister in 2020
Ian Maxwell, the brother of jailed Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, has thanked President Donald Trump for making a 'positive statement' about his sister in 2020 and showing her 'humanity.' Appearing on Piers Morgan Uncensored on Tuesday to discuss the revived furore over Epstein after Trump's Justice Department said that no 'client list' belonging to the late billionaire pedophile existed, Ian Maxwell once more defended Ghislaine, who was jailed in 2022 for her role in the disgraced financier's sex trafficking operation. Asked by Morgan whether she had 'pulled the wool over your eyes' regarding her involvement in Epstein's crimes, Maxwell responded: 'No, I believe my sister. 'I've known her [for] 60 years, Piers. You know, I'm not going to suddenly say she started pulling the wool. I don't think so. I don't believe so. Not for a second.' Pivoting to Trump, Maxwell said: 'President Trump was asked the only time, I believe, in public – at the tail end of his presidency, so, you know, November, December 2021 [sic] – about Ghislaine and he said, 'You know, I don't know much about it, but I wish her well.' 'And 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.' The comment Maxwell referred to was actually made by Trump in July 2020 when Ghislaine was arrested and charged with sex trafficking. 'I haven't really been following it too much,' the president said at the time. 'I just wish her well, frankly. I've met her numerous times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach. And I guess they lived in Palm Beach. But I wish her well.' Asked about it a month later by then-Axios reporter Jonathan Swan, Trump doubled down and said: 'I wish her well, I'd wish you well, I'd wish a lot of people well. Good luck. Let them prove somebody was guilty. 'Her boyfriend died in jail and people are still trying to figure out how did it happen? Was it suicide? Was he killed? And I do wish her well. I'm not looking for anything bad for her. I'm not looking bad for anybody.' The president remains under pressure to explain his past friendship with Epstein after the Justice Department's attempt to draw a line under the case sparked an angry backlash from his own supporters, with many pointing to Attorney General Pam Bondi 's declaration earlier this year that his case file was 'sitting on my desk waiting to be reviewed' as suggesting its release was imminent. Archive photos and video indicate that Trump and Epstein knew each other socially in New York and Florida from the 1980s to the early 2000s, and the president is on record as praising the abuser as a 'terrific guy.' However, he has since distanced himself and is currently suing The Wall Street Journal for alleging that he once sent him a lewd hand-drawn birthday card. The president has tried hard to change the narrative over the last two weeks, attacking numerous old foes on social media in scattergun fashion, rebuking his own 'past' supporters for dwelling on the subject, and complaining to the press at a recent cabinet meeting: 'Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy's been talked about for years. Are people still talking about this guy, this creep?' Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced on Tuesday that, at the direction of AG Bondi, he had contacted Ghislaine's legal counsel about arranging an interview with her and declared: 'No one is above the law – and no lead is off-limits.' Trump signaled his approval of that step in the Oval Office shortly afterwards, saying it 'sounded appropriate.' Meanwhile, a panel of judges has ruled that more information is needed before they can rule on the release of grand jury testimony related to Epstein, and House Speaker Mike Johnson has declined to hold a House vote on whether to order the release of all federal files on him until after Congress's summer recess.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Obama Calls Trump's Treason Accusation a ‘Weak Attempt at Distraction'
Former President Barack Obama at the Obama Foundation's Democracy Forum in Chicago on Dec. 5, 2024. Credit - Scott Olson—Getty Images 'I wish her well,' Donald Trump famously said in 2020 of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's partner Ghislaine Maxwell. When journalist Jonathan Swan prodded the President that Maxwell was in jail on charges of sex trafficking, Trump even responded with surprising deference to the criminal justice process: 'I'd wish you well. I'd wish a lot of people well. Good luck. Let them prove somebody was guilty.' But he isn't taking the same tone now with former President Barack Obama. 'He's guilty. It's not a question,' Trump said Tuesday. 'This was treason.' Trump's denunciation of his predecessor came as he has attempted to deflect scrutiny, including from many of his own former supporters, over his relationship with Epstein and his Administration's attempt earlier this month to close the case despite his allies fanning conspiracy theories that past governments had suppressed evidence incriminating powerful elites and previously vowing to make such evidence public. At the White House, Trump dismissed the unabating controversy surrounding Epstein and Maxwell as a 'witch hunt,' telling reporters that 'the witch hunt that you should be talking about is that they caught President Obama absolutely cold.' 'They tried to rig the election, and they got caught, and there should be very severe consequences for that,' Trump said, referring to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard's recent declassification of Russia-probe-related documents that she claimed amounted to a 'treasonous conspiracy' by the Obama Administration to subvert Trump's 2016 election victory and subsequent presidency. Read More: Trump Envisions Jailing Obama as Tulsi Gabbard Threatens Prosecutions 'This is like proof, irrefutable proof, that Obama was sidacious [sic], that Obama was trying to lead a coup,' Trump asserted, apparently mispronouncing seditious. 'This is the biggest scandal in the history of our country.' Trump rattled off a list of alleged co-conspirators—former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic nominee for President Hillary Clinton, former Vice President and President Joe Biden, former FBI Director James Comey, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper—but insisted that 'the leader of the gang was President Obama.' 'It's time to go after people,' Trump said. 'What they did in 2016 and in 2020 is very criminal. It's criminal at the highest level. So that's really the things that you should be talking about.' Obama issues rare rebuke Since leaving office, Obama has largely refrained from commenting on the goings-on of his successors. But on Tuesday, he issued a rare response via a spokesperson to Trump's accusations. 'Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response,' Patrick Rodenbush said in a statement. 'But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one. These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction.' The statement added that Gabbard's so-called evidence does not undercut 'the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes.' It noted that 'these findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio.' Democrats have largely echoed Obama's response, accusing Trump and his allies of attempting to distract from Epstein. 'Another day, another wave of absurd lies and distractions from Donald Trump,' Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland posted on X. 'It's clear he wants us talking about *anything* other than his refusal to release the Epstein files…or rising prices. It's not going to work.' 'Nothing has made me more confident that Trump committed crimes with Jeffrey Epstein and is now covering them up than this insane administration pivot to calling Obama seditious and guilty of treason,' posted former Obama staffer turned pundit Tommy Vietor. On Fox News, Gabbard accused Obama and congressional Democrats of 'trying to deflect away from what actually happened.' Gabbard has said that more evidence will be produced shortly, with Trump telling reporters earlier that she told him there were 'thousands of additional documents coming.' Can Obama really be tried for treason? Former deputy assistant attorney general Elliot Williams told CNN, where he is a legal analyst, that it's very unlikely that Obama will even be charged with, let alone convicted of, any crime related to Gabbard's claims. 'There is not a serious case here for treason or sedition or whatever else,' Williams said. The U.S. Constitution sets a specific definition for treason, summarized by Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute as 'the betrayal of one's own country by attempting to overthrow the government through waging war against the State or materially aiding its enemies.' It is punishable by imprisonment or even death. Gabbard's suggestion that Obama betrayed the U.S. government by directing a supposedly misleading intelligence assessment is 'just silly,' said Williams. 'Intelligence assessments are sometimes ambiguous. There are different opinions that can be made about them, but merely disagreeing with one or the findings of one, or what's drawn from one, is not treason,' he said. 'Now, can it be a hassle and a pain in the ass to the person who's investigated, who's got to hire a lawyer and go through all the motions? Sure. But this is not an investigation to be grounded in any reality.' Beyond that, there's also the issue of presidential immunity. In a ruling favorable to Trump last year, the Supreme Court established a broad framework that former Presidents enjoy 'absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority' and 'at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts.' 'Before Trump v. US, people could ask pesky questions like, 'If President Obama committed so many crimes, why hasn't the DOJ indicted him?' But Presidential immunity makes evidence of wrongdoing (or lack thereof in Obama's case) irrelevant,' Milan Markovic, a law professor at Texas A&M University, posted on Bluesky. Posted Graham Steele, former assistant secretary for financial institutions at the Treasury Department and a fellow at the Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford Law School: 'One of SCOTUS's rationales for the Trump immunity decision was that it would protect former presidents of *both parties* from political prosecutions. And yet, this administration is openly talking about indicting a former Democratic president on (literally and figuratively) trumped-up charges.' But when conservative commentator Benny Johnson asked rightwing lawyer Mike Davis, who has been dubbed 'Trump's chief legal defender,' about presidential immunity as well as the statute of limitations, which for most federal crimes is five years, Davis rejected those potential obstacles to prosecuting Obama. 'He might be able to claim presidential immunity for his actions while he was the President of the United States, and they'll have to litigate that,' Davis said. 'But I'll tell you this, it's an ongoing criminal conspiracy, and presidential immunity covers his actions while he's the President of the United States. They don't cover his actions when he's the former President of the United States and when he's participating in the cover-up of this conspiracy.' 'Justice is coming,' Davis warned Democrats. 'I don't think we'll put you in Mike Davis' gulag—the viceroy's gulag, as we joke, as we troll—but justice is definitely coming, and I think the Bureau of Prisons will have plenty of space for these people.' Contact us at letters@
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Epstein's brother hints at Ghislaine Maxwell's knowledge
Jeffrey Epstein's brother has accused the White House of a 'cover up' after Donald Trump's Justice Department said it would speak to Ghislaine Maxwell in jail. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche revealed on Tuesday he expects to meet with Maxwell in the coming days to see if she has 'information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims.' Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted of trafficking of minors on behalf of Epstein. The move to speak to her is part of an ongoing Justice Department effort to cast itself as transparent in the Epstein case, which has been shrouded in conspiracy theories. It follows a fierce backlash from parts of Trump's base over an earlier refusal by the administration to release additional records in the investigation. Attorney General Pam Bondi has faced mounting pressure from Trump's supporters to release all materials related to Epstein, who killed himself in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. A lawyer for Maxwell said she would cooperate with the Justice Department. 'I can confirm that we are in discussions with the government and that Ghislaine will always testify truthfully,' her lawyer David Oscar Markus said. 'We are grateful to President Trump for his commitment to uncovering the truth in this case.' But Mark Epstein (pictured right), brother of the disgraced late financier, claimed it was the latest effort to distract attention from unpublished evidence and the circumstances surrounding the death of his brother. Two weeks ago, a months-long review conducted by the Justice Department and FBI concluded that Epstein died by suicide. Mark Epstein maintains his brother was killed. He said: 'They'll talk to her (Maxwell) and ask her what her favorite color is. So they can say they talked to her. It depends what the conversation is about. Maybe she'll be afraid to speak, afraid they'll hold it against her and turn down her appeal.' Mark Epstein said he knew Maxwell in the 1990s but had not spoken to her for several decades. But he believed she would have information about interactions between Epstein and Trump. 'She could certainly verify that Trump was in Jeffrey's office many times,' he said. He claimed a White House statement on Monday that Trump had 'never been' to his brother's office was 'the biggest crap I've ever heard. I would speak to Jeffrey and he'd say he was with Trump. I know people in his office saw him there,' he said. The White House referred a request for comment to the Justice Department. The Justice Department did not comment beyond Blanche's earlier statement. Blanche said: 'This Department of Justice does not shy away from uncomfortable truths, nor from the responsibility to pursue justice wherever the facts may lead.' He said in the recent Justice Department and FBI review 'no evidence was uncovered that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.' Blanche added: 'President Trump has told us to release all credible evidence. If Ghislane Maxwell has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the DOJ will hear what she has to say. I anticipate meeting with Ms. Maxwell in the coming days. Until now, no administration on behalf of the Department had inquired about her willingness to meet with the government. That changes now.' Speaking in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump addressed the DOJ plan to speak to Maxwell, saying he was not aware of it but it seemed 'appropriate to do.' He said: 'I don't know anything about it. I don't really follow that too much. It's sort of a witch hunt.' Trump has long said he was 'not a fan' of Jeffrey Epstein, that he had a 'falling out' with him around 20 years ago and never spoke to him again. Last week, the president sued media magnate Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal after it published a story about Trump's alleged friendship with Epstein. Meanwhile, some of the president's supporters have continued to pursue conspiracy theories that Epstein had a list of high-profile clients. The Justice Department and FBI review concluded there was no such 'client list.' Trump has urged his supporters not to be taken in by what he called a Democrat 'scam' and 'hoax' which was actually 'pretty boring stuff.' Some of Trump's most staunch supporters in recent weeks have called on Bondi to resign, after she backtracked on a promise she made earlier this year. She had said her department would release additional materials including 'a lot of names' and 'a lot of flight logs' in connection with Epstein's clients. Since then, at Trump's direction, Bondi and Blanche have asked a federal court for permission to unseal grand jury transcripts in the cases of both Epstein and Maxwell. However, legal experts have said that those transcripts will not likely contain the types of materials being sought by Trump's supporters. A source who spoke with the Daily Mail said that Maxwell would be 'more than happy' to testify before Congress. 'No-one from the government has ever asked her to share what she knows,' the source said. 'She remains the only person to be jailed in connection to Epstein and she would welcome the chance to tell the American public the truth.'
