This article originally appeared on the Daily Caller News Foundation and was republished with permission.
Guest post by Ashley Brasfield
Ghislaine Maxwell is back in the spotlight, nearly three years after being sentenced to 20 years for her role in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking scheme.
Maxwell was convicted on five of six counts for conspiring with Epstein to recruit, groom, and sexually abuse underage girls in December 2021 and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Her name has reemerged following the release of a two-page memo by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on July 6, which stated there was no evidence that Epstein had a “client list” or was the victim of foul play in his death.
Following the release of the memo — intended to put an end to years of speculation and renewed demands for transparency after Epstein’s death — Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced, just over two weeks later, that he planned to meet with and question Maxwell on July 22 about her involvement in the Epstein case.
On July 25, Maxwell’s attorney David Oscar Markus told reporters that his client had completed an extensive two-day interview with Blanche, during which she answered questions about nearly 100 individuals allegedly connected to Epstein.
“She was asked about every possible thing you could imagine — everything,” Oscar Markus said.
During the interview with Blanche, Maxwell stated that Trump had never acted inappropriately around her, according to a ABC News report.
Now, three senior Trump administration officials reportedly said the DOJ is considering releasing the full transcripts of Maxwell’s interview with Blanche.
Then, just a week after her DOJ interview, Maxwell was quietly transferred July 31 from Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Tallahassee — a low-security women’s prison in Florida for female inmates — to Federal Prison Camp Bryan, a minimum-security women’s facility in Texas that houses 626 inmates.
FCI Tallahassee, as of May 2023, held 746 women, which was 88 percent of its physical capacity of 846.
There are only seven prison camps in the country akin to Camp Bryan, typically featuring dormitory-style housing, minimal perimeter security, and low staff-to-inmate ratios, according to an Axios report.
The timing of Maxwell’s transfer — just a week after her meeting with Blanche — has sparked speculation, though no official reason for her being moved has been given.
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SiriusXM’s Megyn Kelly addressed Maxwell’s two-day interview with Blanche, calling the situation “annoying.”
“This woman is a convicted sex trafficker and sex abuser herself,” Kelly said. “Yet she is sitting in there like she is some queen bee now.”
Whether Maxwell is given questions in advance or not, Kelly did not buy her testimony could be trusted.
“She is in prison for 20 years – she is going to say whatever the hell she thinks she needs to to get a ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card,” she continued. “Her testimony isn’t trustworthy, and this meeting just proves they’re playing games.”
“I think Trump and everyone else should tell this woman to pound sand, to go back into prison and to rot in hell.”
Journalist Mark Halperin noted that it seemed “odd” in reaction to the lack of explanation behind Maxwell being transferred.
“This case does not lack for lack of transparency. It does not lack for conspiracy theories,” Halperin stated.
“It does not lack for unorthodox conduct by government officials, seemingly to favor Epstein and Maxwell, over many years,” he continued. “So to add to the list of things that people are going to scratch their heads about and say, ‘what is up with this,’ to add to that, at this point in the story, is just silly and stupid, but it’s not good government.”
The DOJ formally petitioned a Manhattan federal judge to unseal grand jury testimony related to the prosecutions of Maxwell and Epstein on July 18.
Maxwell’s attorneys filed an opposition in the Southern District of New York, pushing back against the DOJ’s effort to unseal court documents July 28.
They argued that releasing the materials would violate grand jury secrecy in a case where the defendant is still alive, potentially harming Maxwell’s remaining legal options, and infringe on her due process rights.
The filing also noted that Maxwell has not been granted access to review the transcripts, despite the government not objecting to her recent request to do so.
That same day, President Donald Trump told reporters he has the authority to pardon Maxwell but said no one has asked him to — without explicitly ruling out the possibility.
Second Circuit U.S. District Judge Richard Berman requested more legal justification and clarification from the Trump administration before ruling on the release of Epstein grand jury testimony July 22.
Berman ordered a redacted 25-page memo to be submitted by July 29 and asked representatives of Epstein and his victims to share their positions on the matter by August 5.
Just one day later, July 23, an Eleventh Circuit federal judge denied the DOJ’s request to unseal grand jury transcripts from the 2005 and 2007 Epstein investigations in West Palm Beach, Florida.
U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer, also from the Second Circuit, denied a separate DOJ request to unseal grand jury materials from Ghislaine Maxwell’s case, ruling that the documents only referenced Epstein and Maxwell in connection with alleged sexual contact with a minor, and did not name any other individuals.
Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer cautioned on “The Morning Meeting” with host Mark Halperin that if Trump were to pardon Maxwell or reduce her sentence, he would face an extraordinary level of public backlash.
Halperin asked Spicer what might motivate Trump to consider clemency. Spicer responded, “I would say he would be under the impression that he was going to be able to say that they got something from her, further information.”
Spicer quickly dismissed that notion, adding, “I think if anyone who sells him on this is lying to him.”
The former White House press secretary drew a comparison to Trump’s 2017 firing of former FBI Director James Comey.
“When he fired Comey, he was told, ‘Oh, if you fire Comey, everyone’s gonna cheer you on.’ And … I think people misled him on how that was going to go down,” he continued. “I think this is similar. There will be outrage like never before if she gets a deal. This will transcend partisan lines.”
“I don’t know what Ghislaine Maxwell could possibly tell you,” he said.
Meanwhile, members of Congress also expressed interest in speaking to Maxwell. House Oversight Committee subpoenaed Maxwell on July 23 for a deposition scheduled for August 11.
In a letter to the Committee on July 29, Oscar Markus outlined several conditions for Maxwell’s congressional testimony, including a demand for immunity, a request for advance access to the committee’s questions for her and her attorneys, and a postponement until after the Supreme Court rules on her pending appeals.
The letter concluded with a direct plea to Trump, asking him to grant clemency to Maxwell.
A committee spokeswoman told the Daily Caller on July 31 that granting congressional immunity for Maxwell’s testimony is not being considered.
Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer announced the next day that Maxwell’s planned deposition had been postponed indefinitely at the request of her attorney.
Oscar Markus filed a reply brief July 28 asking the Supreme Court to amend the Second Circuit’s ruling, raising the question of whether a promise made by a U.S. attorney on behalf of the United States legally binds the federal government.
Her legal team based their argument on the 2008 non-prosecution agreement (NPA) made by former Labor Secretary Alex Acosta involving Epstein when he was serving as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
Federal prosecutors allegedly offered to drop their case if Epstein pleaded guilty to two state prostitution charges, registered as a sex offender, compensated the victims and served a 13-month sentence in county jail with work-release privileges.
Acosta agreed to keep the NPA a secret from Epstein’s victims, which was ruled illegal in 2017 by a federal judge in violation of the Crime Victims’ Rights Act.
Oscar Markus argued that “as the government acknowledges, the starting point in a contract is the text itself,” and maintained that the promise made in Epstein’s agreement is unconditional.
Maxwell’s appeal was fully briefed with the court on July 28, and it was distributed for the Supreme Court’s “long conference” on Sept. 29, where the justices review numerous petitions that accumulate over the summer recess.
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