Trump administration announces it will meet with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s fixer

The storm over the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein case continues in Washington. This Tuesday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who was previously Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, announced on X that he plans to meet “in the coming days” with Ghislaine Maxwell, an associate of pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, for whom she acted as a procurer for the minors he abused (and also sometimes participated in those abuses).

Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence in a Florida prison and has expressed her desire to be pardoned by authorities.

“President Trump has told us to release all credible evidence,” Blanche posted. “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.” The president’s former lawyer also says he is working “at the direction of Attorney General Bondi,” noting that “until now, no administration on behalf of the Department had inquired about her willingness to meet with the government. That changes now.”

In reality, only two administrations could have done so: Trump’s first (2017-2021) and Joe Biden’s (2021-2025). Epstein died in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial for child sex trafficking. The coroner concluded that he had taken his own life, and that this was made possible by a series of lapses in his custody: he had too much bedding, which he could have used for that purpose, and the rounds to check on the prisoner didn’t take place until almost 12 hours had passed.

A report, co-signed by the Department of Justice and the FBI, confirmed that conclusion on July 6: no one murdered Epstein, despite theories that have since spread that he was killed to prevent him from blowing the whistle on his rich and famous friends. That document also denied the existence of an “Epstein list,” a record of men who allegedly participated in the child sex trafficking ring, whose identity and power have reportedly prevented it from coming to light for so long.

“Uncomfortable truths”

“This Department of Justice does not shy away from uncomfortable truths, nor from the responsibility to pursue justice wherever the facts may lead,” Blanche wrote on X. “The joint statement by the DOJ and FBI of July 6 remains as accurate today as it was when it was written. 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.”

Blanche’s confidence in the work of his department and the FBI is not shared by prominent members of the MAGA movement, who have questioned the report’s conclusions and demanded the full truth be known.

Bondi spent months promising them that her department would release all the documents at its disposal. The change of heart has not sat well with the conspiracy theorists: Trump had promised during the election campaign that he would do the same upon his return to the White House. Epstein, with whom he had a 15-year friendship before breaking off relations with him, has returned like a ghost, creating the first serious internal crisis of his second administration, six months after his return to power.

Last week, the U.S. president instructed the attorney general to request the judge in the 2019 case (the second, following a minor conviction in 2006 in Florida) release documents from the grand jury portion of the proceedings. This group of citizens under the U.S. legal system intervenes in a preliminary phase, guided by the prosecutor, to take testimony, conduct certain tests, and decide whether the case should move forward.

Since then, Trump has continued trying to push the case into obscurity, making announcements to distract attention. The upcoming meeting with Maxwell appears to be another strategy to buy time, while the rebellion is also spreading among Republican members of Congress, who are demanding explanations. Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House of Representatives, has already warned that the matter will not be debated until after the August recess.

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