US Justice Dept. asks Epstein associate Maxwell to speak to prosecutors

Highlights:

• Pressure mounts for release of Epstein case materials, urged by Trump supporters
• Epstein killed himself in a jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges
• Maxwell convicted in 2021 on charges related to Epstein

The Justice Department has asked lawyers for Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell if she would be willing to speak with US prosecutors, and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Tuesday he expected to meet with her in the coming days.

The decision to request a meeting with Maxwell comes as Attorney General Pam Bondi has faced mounting pressure from President Donald Trump's supporters to release additional materials related to Epstein, who killed himself in a jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

Also on Tuesday, two Manhattan-based federal judges set a July 29 deadline for the Justice Department to provide detailed arguments to support its bid to unseal records from Epstein's and Maxwell's criminal cases.

Maxwell, a British socialite and Epstein's longtime girlfriend, is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted of sex trafficking in 2021.

"President Trump has told us to release all credible evidence," Blanche said in a statement posted on X.

He added that if Maxwell "has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the DOJ will hear what she has to say."

Blanche said he has been in touch with Maxwell's attorneys to see if she is willing to speak with prosecutors.

"I anticipate meeting with Ms. Maxwell in the coming days," he added.

In the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump told reporters it would be appropriate for the Justice Department to interview Maxwell.

David Oscar Markus, a lawyer for Maxwell, said, "I can confirm that we are in discussions with the government and that Ghislaine will always testify truthfully. We are grateful to President Trump for his commitment to uncovering the truth in this case. We have no other comment at this time."

Defendants in US criminal cases are not required to testify in their own defense, and Maxwell did not take the stand at her trial. Maxwell has appealed her conviction and sentence to the US Supreme Court.

Some of Trump's most staunch supporters in recent weeks have called on Bondi to resign, after she back-tracked on a promise she made earlier this year that the department would release additional materials including "a lot of names" and "a lot of flight logs" in connection with Epstein's clients.

After releasing only a select number of records that failed to shed new light on the case, the department and the FBI released a joint memo earlier this month that poured cold water on long-running conspiracy theories about Epstein by saying there was "no incriminating client list" or any evidence of blackmail.

Since then, at Trump's direction, Bondi and Blanche have asked a federal court for permission to unseal grand jury transcripts in the cases of both Epstein and Maxwell, who was convicted of recruiting and grooming underage girls for Epstein to abuse.

However, legal experts including one of Epstein's former attorneys, Alan Dershowitz, have said that those transcripts will not likely contain the types of materials being sought by Trump's supporters.

The judges overseeing the Epstein and Maxwell cases, Richard Bermand and Paul Engelmayer, could also deny the requests. The judges on Tuesday ordered the government to flesh out its arguments by July 29, and instructed Maxwell, a representative for Epstein, and their alleged victims to submit letters laying out their positions on the potential disclosure of the grand jury records by August 5.

In an interview on Fox News Sunday, Dershowitz called on the Justice Department to release other materials such as FBI reports of interviews with Epstein's victims.

He also urged the government to grant Maxwell immunity so that she could potentially testify before Congress about Epstein's crimes.