Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein in an undated photo. Photo / Getty Images
President Donald Trump said he had not contemplated pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell, a former associate of deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein, as she met for a second day with a senior Justice Department official for an hours-long interview.
An attorney for Maxwell said she was asked about potentially “100 different people” and “answered every single question” posed by Deputy Attorney-General Todd Blanche during the meeting in Tallahassee, not far from the low-security federal prison where she is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking.
Maxwell’s attorney, David Oscar Markus, said she had not sought or agreed to any deals with the Trump administration. “There’s been no asks and no promises,” he said.
“She answered those questions honestly, truthfully, to the best of her ability,” Markus told reporters. “She never invoked a privilege. Never refused to answer a question. We’re very proud of her and proud of how the process worked over the past day and a half.”
Trump has faced sustained criticism about his Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein and Maxwell sex-trafficking cases. Some members of his right-wing base have decried the administration’s decision not to fulfil its pledge to release more details from the investigations.
Asked on Friday morning (local time) whether he would grant Maxwell a pardon or commute her sentence, Trump said he had not considered such possibilities.
“It’s something I haven’t thought about,” he told reporters while leaving the White House for Scotland. “I’m allowed to do it, but it’s something I have not thought about.”
Epstein was indicted in 2019 on sex-trafficking charges. His death in a federal prison that year was ruled a suicide by New York City’s medical examiner. Epstein’s connections to many powerful and prominent figures – among them Trump and former President Bill Clinton – helped fuel conspiracy theories about the circumstances of his death and whether others might have been complicit in his actions.
A Justice Department inspector general’s report released in 2023 pushed back on the idea his death was anything other than suicide, saying staff failures at the jail gave Epstein “the opportunity to take his own life”.
This month, the Justice Department and the FBI said in a memo that a “systematic review” had not turned up other evidence warranting criminal investigation of third parties. The memo also stated again that Epstein died by suicide.
This memo set off an intensifying political crisis for the Trump administration, sparking sharp pushback from some of the President’s allies. Trump has bristled at the ongoing focus on the issue. Speaking near the White House on Friday morning, he criticised the continuing focus on Epstein, his onetime friend.
“People should really focus on how well the country is doing,” Trump said, adding later that he has “nothing to do with the guy”.
When Trump landed in Scotland on Friday, he was again asked about Maxwell and expressed further annoyance at the questions. The President said he did not know what Maxwell and Blanche discussed. “I haven’t really been following it,” he told reporters.
Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend, was convicted of sex-trafficking charges in 2021. As the backlash continued, Blanche said this week that he would meet with Maxwell to discuss anyone else “who has who has committed crimes against victims”.
In an unorthodox move, Blanche travelled to the Florida capital to conduct the interview, spending much of Thursday and the first half of Friday speaking with Maxwell.
Blanche, who had worked as one of Trump’s criminal defence attorneys, is the Justice Department’s No 2 official, tasked with managing the day-to-day operations of the sprawling agency.
“It is extremely unusual for the Deputy Attorney-General to be directly involved in an investigation of any type,” said Greg Brower, a former senior FBI official and ex-federal prosecutor. “I guess what Blanche would say is, this is an extremely unusual situation, that’s why he has involved himself directly.”
Adding to the extraordinary nature of the interview, Brower said, is the fact Maxwell has petitioned the US Supreme Court to hear an appeal of her conviction, something the Justice Department opposes. In a filing last week, the department urged the court to deny her request.
Speaking after Maxwell’s interview concluded on Friday, her attorney, Markus, said she was asked about a wide array of people during the hours-long process. Markus did not elaborate on who they were but described his client as forthright and open.
He said that Blanche “asked every possible question” of Maxwell and that his client “didn’t hold anything back”.
It was unclear whether Blanche or other federal officials would seek more information from her. The Justice Department did not respond to a message seeking comment. The agency also did not say whether Maxwell had been granted any form of immunity.
The Trump administration has responded in varying ways to the Epstein outcry. Trump has admonished his supporters and lashed out at Democrats. Last week, he directed the Justice Department to seek the release of grand jury testimony in Epstein-related cases.
The agency last week asked courts to make public grand jury testimony from investigations into Epstein and Maxwell, citing “extensive public interest”.
Grand jury secrecy rules typically block the release of such material. Federal judges in Manhattan asked prosecutors for more detailed justifications for the unusual requests, noting that sealed grand jury records can be released only under narrow circumstances.
A federal judge in Florida, meanwhile, said she was legally barred from releasing records from grand juries that investigated Epstein in that state.
The Epstein issue has also rippled across Capitol Hill, where a House subcommittee this week voted to subpoena the administration for Epstein-related files, and the House Oversight Committee voted to subpoena Maxwell to testify before that panel. Representative Tim Burchett (R-Tennessee) proposed the motion, saying he hoped her testimony would bring clarity to the ongoing debate over Epstein.
Markus told reporters on Friday they had not yet responded to the congressional subpoena and had not made a decision about it.
While Markus said his client had not made any deals with the Trump administration so far, he declined to say whether she was hoping to reach an agreement to shorten or nullify her sentence.
He acknowledged that Maxwell “would welcome any relief” in her case and said of Trump’s ability to grant clemency, “We hope he exercises that power in the right and just way”.