Justice Department holds ‘productive’ meeting with Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell

Washington: Deputy US Attorney-General Todd Blanche said he met accused sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s long-time associate Ghislaine Maxwell in Tallahassee, Florida, on Friday AEST and would meet with her again on Saturday.

Maxwell’s lawyer, David Oscar Markus, speaking separately after the meeting, said, “We had a very productive day today with the Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and Ghislaine Maxwell”.

Ghislaine Maxwell, pictured with Jeffrey Epstein, is serving a 20-year sentence at a federal prison in Tallahassee, after a jury convicted her of sex trafficking in 2021. She is appealing her sentence.Credit: AP

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, which is located in a federal courthouse.

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 said.

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”.

The New York Times said it was unclear what information Maxwell, who has made it clear she wants to be released from prison, could provide beyond what has already been made public.

Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence at a federal prison in Tallahassee, after a jury convicted her of sex trafficking in 2021. She is appealing her sentence.

US President Donald Trump and his administration have been facing mounting pressure from Trump’s supporters to release additional information about the Justice Department’s investigation into Epstein, who killed himself in 2019 in a jail cell while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

Blanche wrote on X that he met Maxwell and would continue his interview on Friday, US time (Saturday AEST). The Justice Department, he said, “will share additional information about what we learned at the appropriate time”.

Although 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, finding that it did not fall into any of the exceptions to rules requiring grand jury material to be kept secret.

Trump’s name, along with many other high-profile individuals, appeared multiple times on flight logs for Epstein’s private plane in the 1990s.

Trump has said he once thought Epstein was a “terrific guy” but that they later had a falling out.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Bondi had told Trump in May that his name was among high-profile people mentioned in government files of Epstein, though the mention does not imply wrongdoing.

Officials have said Epstein killed himself in his New York jail cell while awaiting trial in 2019, but his case has generated endless attention and conspiracy theories because of his and Maxwell’s links to famous people, including royals, presidents and billionaires.

AP, Reuters