US Politics
Ghislaine Maxwell answered every question from DOJ officials, lawyer says
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Ghislaine Maxwell answered every single question put to her by Department of Justice officials, her attorney has said.
David Oscar Markus briefly spoke to reporters outside a Florida courthouse after the disgraced British socialite was grilled during a meeting with federal Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on Thursday.
Markus did not take questions, but said Maxwell “never declined to answer” and did not invoke any privilege during the meeting. Prior to the meeting he said the team was looking forward to a “productive day.”
Blanche did not address media following the meeting. The Deputy Attorney General later posted on X saying: “Today, I met with Ghislaine Maxwell, and I will continue my interview of her tomorrow. The Department of Justice will share additional information about what we learned at the appropriate time.”
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Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend, met with Blanche at the U.S. Attorney General’s office, which is located inside Tallahassee’s federal courthouse, in Florida.
Maxwell is currently being held at the Florida Correctional Institution-Tallahassee, where she is serving a 20-year sentence for her role in a scheme to abuse minors.
Blanche had announced Tuesday that he had contacted Maxwell’s attorneys to pursue any potential new leads as Trump’s MAGA base continues to blast the administration over its handling of the so-called “Epstein Files.”
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But that announcement caused a stir among Democrats, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer writing on X: “Under no circumstances should anyone from Trump’s DOJ be allowed to privately interview Ghislaine Maxwell.
“The conflict of interest is glaring. It stinks of high corruption.”
Maxwell, 63, was sentenced to 20 years prison 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.
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Her meeting with Blanche comes after the Wall Street Journal reported President Donald Trump had been told in May by Attorney General Pam Bondi that his name appeared in the Epstein Files “multiple times”. The president denied such claims to reporters earlier this month.
Appearing in the files does not indicate an individual has committed any wrongdoing and Trump has not 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 outlet about the claims Trump was named in the files.
