Ghislaine Maxwell’s legal team expressed optimism after meeting with the Department of Justice on Thursday in an attempt to clear up widespread speculation about her former boyfriend, Jeffrey Epstein.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche sat down with Maxwell for hours in Florida after President Donald Trump instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi’s DOJ to further probe Epstein, a now-deceased convicted sex offender whose past sparked sweeping public debate.
“There were a lot of questions and we went all day,” David Markus, Maxwell’s lawyer, said following the encounter. “And she answered every one of them. She never did say, ‘I’m not going to answer,’ never declined … she never stopped. She never invoked her privilege. She never declined to answer. She answered all the questions truthfully, honestly, and to the best of her ability.”
Markus praised the Trump administration for approaching Maxwell, noting that the Thursday meeting marked the first time any DOJ official had opened direct lines of communication with her.
“This is the first time that the government has asked questions, so we were thankful that the deputy attorney general came and asked her questions,” he told reporters. “It’s the first time the government did it. So it was a good day.”
Blanche said the two would continue the interview on Friday, announcing in a post to X Thursday evening that the DOJ would “share additional information about what we learned at the appropriate time.”
Some have viewed Maxwell as the “Rosetta Stone” that can unlock the mystery of Epstein, a powerful New York financier who for decades cultivated relationships with the world’s leading political, academic, celebrity, and scientific figures, before he died in a prison cell in 2019 stirred specualtion that the government was trying to cover up his participation in a “deep-state” operation.
Maxwell had known Epstein since the early 1990s and has reportedly viewed cooperating with the DOJ as a possible ticket to obtaining a pardon from Trump or a more lenient approach to her efforts to appeal her 2022 sex trafficking conviction.
Congress, led by House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY), has subpoenaed Maxwell for a deposition at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee on Aug. 11 as Washington expands an investigation into the Epstein case.
Comer’s move came after Blanche said last week he believed Maxwell might have “credible” light to shed on the Epstein case.
“President Trump has told us to release all credible evidence. If [Ghislaine] Maxwell has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the DOJ will hear what she has to say,” the deputy attorney general said. “I anticipate meeting with Ms. Maxwell in the coming days. Until now, no administration on behalf of the Department had inquired about her willingness to meet with the government. That changes now.”