Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted sex trafficker and longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein, is set to meet with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche Thursday to discuss Epstein’s decadeslong abuse network, marking the first time any Justice Department official under President Donald Trump has opened direct lines of communication with her.
The private meeting, happening at the U.S. attorney’s office in Tallahassee, Florida, comes amid pressure on the Trump administration from elements of the president’s Make America Great Again base who are frustrated with the Justice Department’s July 6 memo that denied the existence of a secret “client list” and reaffirmed findings that the disgraced financier Epstein died by suicide in 2019.
The deputy attorney general arrived at the federal courthouse where his office is located at around 9 a.m. ET and declined to answer questions from reporters. Maxwell’s attorneys were also seen entering the courthouse.
“We’re looking forward to a productive day,” David Oscar Markus, Maxwell’s appellate lawyer, told ABC News.
Blanche, a longtime criminal defense attorney who joined the Trump DOJ earlier this year, confirmed this week that he had initiated talks with Markus and anticipated meeting with Maxwell “in the coming days.” He added that, at the direction of Attorney General Pam Bondi, the department is now willing to hear what Maxwell has to say if she can provide information about crimes.
“Until now, no administration on behalf of the Department had inquired about her willingness to meet with the government,” Blanche said in a statement posted Tuesday to Bondi’s X account. “That changes now.”
Epstein fallout
Blanche’s outreach comes one day after the Wall Street Journal reported that Bondi told Trump earlier this year that his name appeared “multiple times” in internal Epstein files. White House communications director Steven Cheung dismissed the claim as “another fake news story.” Trump has said publicly that he would support the release of any credible evidence related to the case.
The renewed scrutiny over Epstein has rattled portions of the conservative base, with some conspiracy theorists arguing that Epstein was murdered to protect powerful elites. When asked Tuesday about the DOJ’s outreach to Maxwell, Trump said it “sounded appropriate” and expressed no reservations about Blanche’s role.
Amid frustration, Congress went to great lengths this week to obtain more information for the public as it relates to Epstein and Maxwell, with the House Oversight Committee filing a subpoena for her to sit for a deposition on Aug. 11. However, as Congress nears a five-week break, the DOJ will have first access to Maxwell.
Legal dynamics and personal ties
Markus confirmed the talks with DOJ officials in a statement earlier this week, saying that Maxwell would “always testify truthfully” and thanking Trump for his “commitment to uncovering the truth.”
Notably, Markus and Blanche are close professionally and personally. “You are — by far — the best out there,” Blanche told Markus during an appearance on his For the Defense podcast last summer. “I now consider you a friend,” Blanche told Markus.
Markus has also tangled with Trump in court. He represented former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Trump’s Russiagate lawsuit, which was dismissed and sanctioned by a federal judge.
Blanche’s motion last week to unseal grand jury transcripts from the criminal investigations into Epstein and Maxwell is also progressing, though a judge in Florida has rejected the government’s pursuit of grand jury transcripts from Epstein’s mid-2000s investigation, citing rules that disallow courts from unsealing such records in most instances not related to ongoing judicial proceedings.
A judge handling the government’s request for sealed transcripts in Maxwell’s case ordered the DOJ to file detailed arguments by July 29, with responses due from victims and attorneys by Aug. 5. Markus separately requested early access to those transcripts on Wednesday but was denied.
Additionally, legal experts say it is exceedingly rare for a ranking member of the Justice Department, let alone the deputy attorney general, to hold a private conference with such a high-profile defendant.
Maxwell’s legal status and possible incentives
Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence, was convicted in 2021 on five counts, including sex trafficking of a minor. Prosecutors said she played a central role in Epstein’s abuse scheme, recruiting and grooming underage girls for sexual exploitation. She is currently asking the Supreme Court to review her conviction, arguing that it violated Epstein’s 2007 nonprosecution agreement. Solicitor General D. John Sauer responded that the case was “unsuitable” for high court review.
But the more immediate question now is what, if anything, Maxwell stands to gain from cooperating with the government.
Legal experts have suggested that the Trump administration could consider two main options to compensate her for valuable information, each fraught with political risk.
First, the DOJ could file a “Rule 35 motion,” requesting that a federal judge reduce Maxwell’s sentence in exchange for her cooperation. However, such motions are discretionary, and the judge now overseeing the government’s request to unseal grand jury transcripts in her case — U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer, an appointee of former President Barack Obama — is viewed by many in Trump’s orbit as adversarial. Earlier this year, Engelmayer drew Republican ire after temporarily blocking a Trump agency from accessing federal payment systems, which Trump called “a disgrace.”
Second, Trump could use his presidential powers to pardon Maxwell or commute her sentence. While legally straightforward, that route carries potentially massive political costs. Trump is already under fire from some supporters over his handling of the Epstein matter, and any leniency toward a convicted child sex trafficker could deepen that dissatisfaction unless Maxwell provides revelations so significant they shift public sentiment.
As Epstein’s former lawyer Alan Dershowitz said, “She is the Rosetta Stone. She knows everything.”