Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche will meet with convicted sex trafficker and Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell in the next several days, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday morning.
Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking in 2021 for recruiting and grooming multiple teenage girls for over a decade to be sexually abused by Epstein. She was investigated and indicted during the first Trump administration and tried and convicted during the Biden administration.
The meeting was confirmed by Maxwell’s attorney, David Oscar Markus, who has been requesting meetings with Trump administration officials and has argued that Maxwell did not receive a fair trial.
“I can confirm that we are in discussions with the government and that Ghislaine will always testify truthfully,” Markus said. “We are grateful to President Trump for his commitment to uncovering the truth in this case.”
NBC News has reported that Maxwell did not ask for a plea agreement and was not offered one leading up to her trial, according to statements made by federal prosecutors in pre-trial hearings at the time. After being convicted in a trial in New York, she was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.
Blanche, in a post Tuesday on X issued by Bondi, said the Justice Department stood by its July 6 statement that “no evidence was uncovered” that other individuals should be charged in the Epstein case. He said the statement “remains as accurate today as it was when it was written.”
Trump supporters criticized the statement, citing repeated promises from Bondi that she would release documents related to the Epstein case. Multiple Republican members of Congress and right-wing influencers have also criticized Bondi, whom Trump has defended.
The uproar over the so-called Epstein files has proven to be one of the largest political challenges of the initial months of Trump’s second term. The president has repeatedly called on his supporters to move on and focus on other topics, and at one point called them “stupid.”
In an unusual step, Blanche appeared to publicly criticize the work of federal prosecutors during George W. Bush’s second term, Trump’s first term and Biden’s term who all investigated Epstein and Maxwell.
“Until now, no administration on behalf of the Department had inquired about her willingness to meet with the government.” Blanche. “That changes now.”
“Justice demands courage,” Blanche added in a separate post on X. “For the first time, the Department of Justice is reaching out to Ghislaine Maxwell to ask: what do you know?”
Epstein’s case ended after he was found dead in a New York City jail cell in 2019 during the first Trump administration. A medical examiner’s office ruled he died by suicide, a conclusion that Bondi and Blanche supported in the July 6th statement issued by the Justice Department and FBI.
For years, the nature of Epstein’s death, his high-profile contacts and the graphic details of his alleged crimes have fueled conspiracy theories and demands that the government release all it knows about the case.
Trump helped fuel these theories in the past, saying during his most recent presidential campaign that he would have “no problem” looking into an Epstein client list.
After taking office of Attorney General, Bondi repeatedly promised to release documents related to the Epstein case. In a Fox News interview in February, Bondi said an Epstein client list “sitting on my desk right now to review.” FBI director Kash Patel and Deputy FBI director Dan Bongino also called for the release of Epstein documents before being chosen by Trump for their current positions.
But the July 6th joint statement issued by the DOJ and FBI said that both agencies had decided not to release any additional documents.
“A systematic review revealed no incriminating ‘client list,’ the statement said. “There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions. We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.”
Maxwell was found guilty on Dec. 29, 2021, of conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts; conspiracy to transport minors to participate in illegal sex acts; transporting a minor to participate in illegal sex acts; sex trafficking conspiracy; and sex trafficking of a minor.
Multiple federal judges have rejected appeals that Maxwell has filed of her conviction and her appeal is currently before the Supreme Court. She is serving her 20-year sentence at a federal prison in Florida.
On Monday, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., continued to criticize Trump’s handling of the Epstein case.
“If you tell the base of people, who support you, of deep state treasonous crimes, election interference, blackmail, and rich powerful elite evil cabals, then you must take down every enemy of The People,” Greene said in a social media post. “If not. The base will turn and there’s no going back.
“Dangling bits of red meat no longer satisfies,” she added. “They want the whole steak dinner and will accept nothing else.”