Zürcher Nachrichten - Justice Dept to meet Epstein accomplice Maxwell on Thursday

The former British socialite is serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking minors on behalf of Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial in his own pedophile trafficking case.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche -- Trump's former personal lawyer for his hush money trial and two federal criminal cases -- was to interview Maxwell at a federal courthouse in Tallahassee, Florida, multiple US media reported.

"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," Blanche said in a statement on Tuesday. "No one is above the law -- and no lead is off-limits."

Maxwell, the daughter of the late British press baron Robert Maxwell, is the only former Epstein associate who was convicted in connection with his activities, which right-wing conspiracy theorists allege included trafficking young models for VIPs.

But Joyce Vance, an ex-federal prosecutor who now teaches law at the University of Alabama, said any "'new' testimony (Maxwell) offers is inherently unreliable unless backed by evidence."

"Trump could give Ghislaine Maxwell a pardon on his last day in office, in exchange for favorable testimony now," Vance said in a post on X. "She knows he's her only chance for release."

The meeting with Maxwell marks another attempt by the Trump administration to defuse anger among the Republican president's own supporters over what they have long seen as a cover-up of sex crimes by Epstein, a wealthy financier with high-level connections.

- 'A creep' -

A Wall Street Journal report on Wednesday hiked up that pressure as it claimed Trump's name was among hundreds found during a review of DOJ documents on Epstein, even if there was no indication of wrongdoing.

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung called the report "fake news" and said Trump had long ago broken with Epstein and "kicked him out of his (Florida) club for being a creep."

The same newspaper claimed last week that Trump had penned a sexually suggestive letter to Epstein, a former friend, for his birthday in 2003. Trump has sued for at least $10 billion over the story.

Many of the president's core supporters want more transparency on the Epstein case, and Trump -- who has long fanned conspiracy theories -- had promised to deliver that on retaking the White House in January.

But he has since dismissed the controversy as a "hoax," and the DOJ and FBI released a memo this month claiming the so-called Epstein files did not contain evidence that would justify further investigation.

Epstein had committed suicide while in jail, did not blackmail any prominent figures, and did not keep a "client list," according to the FBI-DOJ memo.

- Diversion -

Seeking to redirect public attention, the White House has promoted unfounded claims in recent days that former president Barack Obama led a "years-long coup" against Trump around his victorious 2016 election.

The extraordinary narrative claims that Obama had ordered intelligence assessments to be manipulated to accuse Russia of election interference to help Trump.

Yet it runs counter to four separate criminal, counterintelligence and watchdog probes between 2019 and 2023 -- each of them concluding that Russia did interfere and did, in various ways, help Trump.

Epstein was found hanging dead in his New York prison cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges that he sexually exploited hundreds of victims at his homes in New York and Florida.

Among those with connections to Epstein was Britain's Prince Andrew, who settled a US civil case in February 2022 brought by Virginia Giuffre, who claimed he sexually assaulted her when she was 17.

Giuffre, who accused Epstein of using her as a sex slave, committed suicide at her home in Australia in April.

F.Schneider--NZN