Justice Dept. seeks meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell amid Epstein outrage

Facing sustained backlash over their handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, Justice Department officials said Tuesday that they hope to meet with his imprisoned associate Ghislaine Maxwell to discuss anyone else “who has committed crimes against victims.”

The announcement, from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, is the latest effort by the administration to quell the growing outrage among some sectors of President Donald Trump’s base after the Justice Department concluded this month that investigators had no additional evidence implicating “any additional third parties to allegations of illegal wrongdoing.”

That finding has ignited a furor among conspiracy theorists and Trump’s supporters, who had been primed for years to expect blockbuster revelations implicating high-profile accomplices based on vows from the president and his allies to make public the FBI’s Epstein files.

“The joint statement by the DOJ and FBI of July 6 remains as accurate today as it was when it was written,” Blanche said in Tuesday’s announcement. “Namely, that in the recent thorough review of the files maintained by the FBI in the Epstein case, no evidence was uncovered that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.”

In explaining the overture to Maxwell — who is in federal prison in Florida — Blanche cited Trump’s directive last week to Attorney General Pam Bondi to release more evidence in the case, a move that has also prompted the Justice Department to petition courts in Manhattan and Florida to release grand jury transcripts surrounding the prosecutions.

Blanche’s statement came hours before the House Oversight Committee voted to subpoena Maxwell to testify before the Republican-controlled Congress. According to a spokesperson, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the committee’s chairman, intends to work “expeditiously” with the Justice Department and Bureau of Prisons to accomplish that objective.

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), who proposed the motion, said he hoped public testimony from Maxwell could bring clarity to the ongoing debate over the investigation. “I want justice for those thousands of young ladies who were abused,” he said. “And I want the dirt bags of the world to know that we’re not going to tolerate it.”

Epstein was indicted in 2019 on charges of conspiracy and sex trafficking of minors. His jail-cell death shortly after, which has been ruled a suicide, and his past connections to powerful people in politics, including Trump, have fueled speculation about whether anyone else could have been involved in Epstein’s crimes.

Maxwell is serving a 20-year federal prison sentence after being convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking and other offenses. She did not testify at her trial and is appealing her conviction to the Supreme Court — an effort the Justice Department, in court filings last week, said it opposes.

“I can confirm that we are in discussions with the government and that Ghislaine will always testify truthfully,” her attorney David Oscar Markus said in a statement. “We are grateful to President Trump for his commitment to uncovering the truth in this case.”

Trump told reporters Tuesday that the Justice Department’s effort to interview Maxwell “sounds appropriate.”

“I didn’t know that they were going to do it. I don’t really follow that too much,” he said.

Trump has repeatedly defended Bondi from criticism regarding her handling of the investigation in social media posts in which he has urged his supporters to move on.

“We had the Greatest Six Months of any President in the History of our Country,” he said in a post Tuesday afternoon, “and all the Fake News wants to talk about is the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax!”

Blanche, in his statement, asserted that the Justice Department under previous administrations had never sought to speak with Maxwell. A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, where the cases against Epstein and Maxwell were filed, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the veracity of that claim.

Epstein and Maxwell were charged during Trump’s first administration, though Maxwell was convicted during the early months of President Joe Biden’s term.

Jack Scarola, who represented several teenage girls who sued Epstein years ago, welcomed the Justice Department’s decision to try to speak with Maxwell.

“Ghislaine Maxwell holds the keys to unlocking many of the remaining Epstein mysteries,” he said. “Assuming there is transparency and a sufficiently skilled interviewer conducting that interview, then you can reasonably anticipate there will be new information.”

Scarola said the government could offer her immunity from prosecution related to other potential crimes. “If she is acting reasonably, she will want to curry favor with the government in the hope that her sentence can be reduced,” he said.

Other observers questioned the motivation behind the proposed interview. Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), who has called for a full release of the Justice Department’s Epstein files, accused Blanche of “tacitly floating a pardon for Maxwell in return for information that politically benefits President Trump.”

“Do not be fooled: this latest delay tactic is yet another effort to conceal the Epstein files,” Goldman said. “Full transparency will only occur when DOJ releases the full and complete Epstein files, as they promised.”

Blanche, in his statement, did not say whether the Justice Department was open to offering Maxwell any special consideration in exchange for her cooperation.

Also Tuesday, the federal judges in Manhattan overseeing the Justice Department’s request to release grand jury transcripts from the Epstein and Maxwell investigations ordered prosecutors to provide a more detailed justification for their unusual request.

U.S. District Judges Paul Engelmayer and Richard Berman issued nearly identical orders noting that under court rules, sealed grand jury material can be released only under specific, narrow circumstances. The judges said the Justice Department did not “adequately address” those circumstances last week in its motion to disclose the transcripts.

Engelmayer, an appointee of Barack Obama, and Berman, who was appointed by Bill Clinton, said that for them to consider the government’s motion, prosecutors would have to provide an update on the status of grand jury participants, including Epstein’s accusers who may have testified before the panel, and their families. The judges also requested input from Maxwell’s attorneys, an Epstein representative and Epstein’s victims.

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• Jacobs reported from New York. Beth Reinhard and Dylan Wells contributed.