A lawyer for Ghislaine Maxwell, the accomplice of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, says his client is unsure whether she’ll comply with a congressional subpoena to testify about his abuse of girls and whether others were involved.
“We have to make a decision about whether she will do that or not,” her attorney David Oscar Markus told Politico. “That’s been scheduled for the week of August 11th and we haven’t gotten back to them on whether we’ll do that.”
The lawyer’s comments came after he and Maxwell met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in Tallahassee, where she’s serving 20 years behind bars for her role in Epstein’s scheme to sexually exploit girls, to discuss the Epstein case that has rattled the Trump administration for weeks. Maxwell had initiated the meetings and was granted a form of limited immunity to talk to the Justice Department, ABC News reported.
Upon arriving in Scotland for a golfing trip, the president said: “A lot of people asking me about pardons ... this is no time to be talking about pardons.”
The president, who has never been accused of wrongdoing in the Epstein case, has tried to distance himself from his former friend.
House Democrats are now trying to get the so-called “birthday book” that has been at the center of recent fallout. In a letter to Epstein’s estate, they asked for a “complete, unredacted copy” of the book by August 10. The Wall Street Journal first detailed a reported Trump letter in the book. Trump has sued the outlet for $10 billion over the report.
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Key points
- Trump ducks question on Maxwell pardon, says media 'focused on conspiracy theories'
- Democrats have asked Epstein's estate for a 'complete, unredacted' copy of the so-called 'birthday book'
- Trump claims someone else could have used his name in Epstein birthday book
- Ghislaine Maxwell's attorney says Blanche asked 'about every single possible thing' in second meeting
- Trump arrives in Scotland
- The Epstein List: Who's in the files?
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Trump is en route to Scotland — why?
Friday 25 July 2025 15:50
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Oliver O'Connell
Donald Trump will be visiting the UK for the first of two scheduled trips this year as he plans to land in Scotland on Friday for a five-day private trip.
This will be followed by an official state visit only a few months later, with King Charles III set to welcome the US president from 17 to 19 September.
Here’s Albert Toth with what’s happening on this trip:
Trump’s ‘coverup’ in the face of Epstein scoops is making his problems so much worse
Friday 25 July 2025 16:10
,
Oliver O'Connell
John Bowden writes:
The firestorm continued on the MAGA right this week as the political focus on the Epstein files just would not dissipate and Donald Trump dug himself deeper into a hole.
With his administration scrambling to explain why it isn’t releasing files from an investigation that its own members and supporters have said for years should be made public, the president spent the past two weeks reigniting old conflicts with foes ranging from Rosie O’Donnell to Barack Obama.
On Wednesday, those efforts escalated to the point where the U.S. director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, declared from behind the White House briefing room podium that former President Obama had attempted a “coup” on American soil.
But Trump and his closest advisers are coming to quickly realize that they and the mainstream media both greatly underestimated the staying power of the Epstein issue.
Read on...
ICYMI: Trump blasts Democrats over what he calls the ‘Epstein SCAM’ and ‘CON JOB’
Friday 25 July 2025 16:30
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Oliver O'Connell
A furious President Donald Trump has once again blasted “Radical Left Democrats” over the ongoing fallout of the so-called “Epstein files,” describing it as a “SCAM” and a “CON JOB.”
In a late-night post on Truth Social Thursday, the president fumed over what he claims is an attempt to “distract and obfuscate” from his administration’s first “GREAT six months of service to America ... the results of which many are saying is the BEST six months in Presidential history.”
Mike Bedigan reports.
Amid Epstein furore, does South Park’s savage takedown show Trump has picked a fight he can’t win?
Friday 25 July 2025 16:50
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Oliver O'Connell
Louis Chilton writes:
Of all the dubious achievements of Donald Trump’s time in office, the most surprising may be this: the US president has made South Park relevant again. The long-running animation – just days ago signing a record-breaking $1.5bn deal with Paramount to produce 50 new episodes over the next five years – used its long-awaited season premiere to launch a characteristically pugnacious critique of the president.
Read on...
Maxwell lawyer claims 'scapegoat' client 'treated very unfairly'
Friday 25 July 2025 17:10
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Oliver O'Connell
Ghislaine Maxwell's attorney, David Oscar Markus, said his client “has been treated very unfairly” for more than five years and has no reason to lie when answering questions from Justice Department officials.
Markus was speaking to reporters ahead of a second day of meetings in Tallahassee, Florida, between Maxwell and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, formerly Donald Trump’s personal lawyer.
“If you looked up scapegoat in the dictionary, her face would be next to the definition, next to the dictionary definition of it,” Markus said. “So, you know, we’re grateful for this opportunity to finally be able to say what really happened, and that’s what we’re going to do, yesterday and today.”
Maxwell has experienced “terrible, awful conditions for five years,” he claimed.
“We wouldn’t keep animals the way she’s been kept in prison,” Markus said, adding that “it’s unbelievable that she can keep her spirits up this high, and we’re proud of her.”
“We just ask that folks look at what she has to say with an open mind, and that’s what Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has promised us, and everything she says can be corroborated, and she’s telling the truth. She’s got no reason to lie at this point, and she’s going to keep telling the truth.”
Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking by a federal court in late 2021 after a high-profile trial in which lurid details of her personal role in grooming young girls for Jeffrey Epstein were presented to the jury that ultimately convicted her.
She is currently serving a 20-year sentence for her crimes.
Here’s a look at the prison in which she is incarcerated:
Full story: Trump says he could pardon Ghislaine Maxwell ‘but hasn’t thought about it’
Friday 25 July 2025 17:20
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Oliver O'Connell
President Donald Trump said Friday he has not thought about pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted enabler of financier sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — but noted that he could — as she prepares for a second consecutive day of questioning from his former attorney, who is now a top Justice Department official.
“I’m allowed to do it, but it’s something I haven’t thought about,” Trump told reporters outside the White House on his way to Scotland.
Ariana Baio reports.
Gender-justice organization flies banner over Tallahassee as Maxwell meets with Blanche for second day
Friday 25 July 2025 17:43
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Oliver O'Connell
UltraViolet, a national women-led gender-justice organization, has arranged for a plane to fly over Tallahassee today with a banner that reads: “TRUMP AND BONDI ARE PROTECTING PREDATORS,” as Ghislaine Maxwell meets for a second day with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
Attorney General Pam Bondi’s announcement in early July that no more files related to the investigation into the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein would be published has outraged supporters of President Donald Trump. The MAGA base widely expected them to be released after years of conspiracy theories regarding their contents.
In an effort to tamp down the anger, the president instructed Bondi to ask judges to release grand jury transcripts relating to the case — requests that were denied — and Blanche was dispatched to meet with Maxwell.
There is intense speculation as to what they are discussing, and Democrats in Congress are furious that she is not testifying publicly under oath before speaking to the Justice Department. She is set to be deposed in prison on August 11 by the House Oversight Committee.
“Trump and Bondi are protecting predators”
— Jason Delgado (@JasonDelgadoX) July 25, 2025
A banner plane is flying above the federal courthouse in Tallahassee — where the DOJ is interviewing convicted Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. pic.twitter.com/HrlinjmAWg
The aircraft will fly over the Downtown Tallahassee State Capitol Building, as well as the Joseph Woodrow Hatchett United States Courthouse and Federal Building on North Adams Street, and around the Federal Correctional Institution in northeast Tallahassee, where Maxwell is serving her 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking minors with her boyfriend, Epstein.
Maxwell-Blanche meeting has ended
Friday 25 July 2025 17:54
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Oliver O'Connell
CNN reports that the second day of meetings between Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Ghislaine Maxwell, and her lawyer has concluded.
Maxwell’s attorney, David Oscar Markus, was spotted leaving the Tallahassee, Florida, federal courthouse where the meeting took place and spoke briefly with the media.
Stand by.
Report: Bill Clinton wrote a birthday note to Jeffrey Epstein
Friday 25 July 2025 18:01
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Oliver O'Connell
Jeffrey Epstein's birthday album included a letter from former President Bill Clinton, according to a new report.
Epstein, a wealthy financier and convicted sex offender who died in jail in 2019, has been at the center of controversy in recent weeks after the Justice Department and FBI released a memo earlier this month stating there was never any Epstein client list of powerful people who may have participated in his crimes.
Rachel Dobkin reports.
Bondi left ‘blindsided and annoyed’ by Gabbard’s sudden Obama crusade
Friday 25 July 2025 18:25
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Oliver O'Connell
Attorney General Pam Bondi was left “blindsided and annoyed” by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s sudden crusade against former President Barack Obama, according to a new report.
Joe Sommerlad reports.
Maxwell attorney says Blanche asked 'about every single possible thing' in second meeting
Friday 25 July 2025 18:41
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Oliver O'Connell
David Oscar Markus, Ghislaine Maxwell’s attorney, told reporters outside the Tallahassee courthouse where his client met with Justice Department officials, including Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, that she was asked about “every single possible thing you could imagine.”
Blanche, formerly President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, met with Maxwell yesterday and this morning concerning the case against the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Maxwell was convicted in 2021 for her role as his accomplice in a sex trafficking operation involving minors. She is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence.
Markus briefly spoke with reporters as he departed the courthouse, telling them that the meeting had begun at 9 a.m. and continued until lunchtime.
Echoing his statement after yesterday’s full-day meeting, Markus said his client “answered every single question asked of her.”
“We started this morning right around 9 o’clock, and went to now, lunchtime, and we’re finished after all day, yesterday and today. Ghislaine answered every single question asked of her over the last day and a half. She answered those questions honestly, truthfully, to the best of her ability. She never invoked a privilege. She never refused to answer a question,” Markus said.
“They asked about every single, every possible thing you could imagine. Everything,” Markus said.
Further asked about how her cooperation with the Department of Justice would play out, Markus said he was not sure, but “the truth will come out.”
“We don’t know how it’s going to play out. We just know that this was the first opportunity she’s ever been given to answer questions about what happened, and so the truth will come out about what happened with Mr. Epstein, and she’s the person who’s answering those questions,” he said.
"People have questioned her honesty, which I think is just wrong," Markus added.
The attorney said the government had made no offer of clemency — Maxwell was convicted of federal crimes, making it technically possible for President Donald Trump to commute her sentence or pardon her.
Calling Trump the “ultimate dealmaker,” Markus was questioned repeatedly about whether Maxwell is seeking a presidential pardon, but said “there have been no asks and no promises.”
“We haven’t spoken to the president or anybody about a pardon just yet,” Markus said, but acknowledged Trump’s power to free his client.
“The president this morning said he had the power to do so. We hope he exercises that power in the right and just way,” Markus said.
Full story: ‘I never went to that island,’ Trump says of Epstein’s underage getaway as he tells reporters to talk about Bill Clinton
Friday 25 July 2025 18:50
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Oliver O'Connell
President Donald Trump on Friday angrily demanded that news outlets turn their attention to allegations about one of his predecessors rather than continue covering his alleged connections to dead pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump was addressing reporters as he departed the White House for a visit to Scotland, where he owns a trio of golf courses, when he was asked whether he’d consider a pardon for Epstein’s convicted sex trafficker associate and girlfriend, Ghislane Maxwell.
Andrew Feinberg, The Independent’s White House correspondent, reports.
Trump, Clinton... Here’s who else is allegedly in the Jeffrey Epstein birthday book
Friday 25 July 2025 19:15
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Oliver O'Connell
President Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton both reportedly contributed to a birthday book of letters for Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday, along with a host of other notable names.
The leather-bound book was compiled in 2003 by the late sex offender’s accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is being questioned by Justice Department officials this week to see if she has additional information about the controversial case.
The list of Epstein’s acquaintances in the book has been reviewed by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.
Resurfaced clip shows Epstein pleading the Fifth when asked if he was with Trump around underage girls
Friday 25 July 2025 19:40
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Oliver O'Connell
A resurfaced clip shows sex offender Jeffrey Epstein pleading the Fifth when he was asked during a deposition if he ever socialized with underage girls around Donald Trump.
The video clip, unearthed by left-leaning outlet MeidasTouch, shows Epstein responding to questions during a March 2010 deposition. The disgraced financier was questioned by an attorney of an alleged victim, Vice News previously reported.
Katie Hawkinson reports.
Trump’s approval tanks amid Epstein fallout
Friday 25 July 2025 20:05
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Oliver O'Connell
President Donald Trump's approval rating has tanked, amid the Jeffrey Epstein files fallout, with less than 30 percent of independents approving of the way the president is handling his job.
A new Gallup poll shows Trump’s overall approval rating at 37 percent.
Rachel Dobkin looks at the numbers.
Trump blasts Democrats over what he calls the ‘Epstein SCAM’ and ‘CON JOB’
Friday 25 July 2025 20:30
,
Oliver O'Connell
A furious President Donald Trump has once again blasted “Radical Left Democrats” over the ongoing fallout of the so-called “Epstein files,” describing it as a “SCAM” and a “CON JOB.”
In a late-night post on Truth Social Thursday, the president fumed over what he claims is an attempt to “distract and obfuscate” from his administration’s first “GREAT six months of service to America ... the results of which many are saying is the BEST six months in Presidential history.”
Mike Bedigan reports on the angry outburst.
Watch: Maxwell 'not credible witness at this time' says Democrat rep
Friday 25 July 2025 20:33
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Oliver O'Connell
Ghislaine Maxwell has previously been charged with lying under oath. It’s clear she cannot be trusted.
— Rep. Summer Lee (@RepSummerLee) July 25, 2025
What’s to stop her from lying again to protect Trump or other powerful people to get a pardon?
The DOJ must release the Epstein files immediately. https://t.co/Kk0mpV5NB0 pic.twitter.com/5d98UFxXNW
ANALYSIS: Trump’s ‘coverup’ in the face of Epstein scoops is making his problems so much worse
Friday 25 July 2025 20:55
,
Oliver O'Connell
John Bowden writes:
The firestorm continued on the MAGA right this week as the political focus on the Epstein files just would not dissipate and Donald Trump dug himself deeper into a hole.
With his administration scrambling to explain why it isn’t releasing files from an investigation that its own members and supporters have said for years should be made public, the president spent the past two weeks reigniting old conflicts with foes ranging from Rosie O’Donnell to Barack Obama.
On Wednesday, those efforts escalated to the point where the U.S. director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, declared from behind the White House briefing room podium that former President Obama had attempted a “coup” on American soil.
But Trump and his closest advisers are coming to quickly realize that they and the mainstream media both greatly underestimated the staying power of the Epstein issue.
Read on...
Watch: Trump says 'no time to be talking about pardons'
Friday 25 July 2025 21:18
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Oliver O'Connell
President Trump on Ghislaine Maxwell: "A lot of people are asking me about pardons. Obviously, this is no time to be talking about pardons." pic.twitter.com/rRXpc54WPD
— CSPAN (@cspan) July 25, 2025
AG Bondi left ‘blindsided and annoyed’ by Gabbard’s sudden Obama crusade
Friday 25 July 2025 21:20
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Oliver O'Connell
Attorney General Pam Bondi was left “blindsided and annoyed” by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s sudden crusade against former President Barack Obama, according to a new report.
Joe Sommerlad has the details.
Trump claims he wasn't briefed about his name being in Epstein files
Friday 25 July 2025 21:28
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Oliver O'Connell
Upon his arrival in Scotland, President Donald Trump denied ever being briefed about his name appearing in the Epstein files that his Department of Justice has decided not to make public.
Reporter: Were you ever briefed about your name being in the Epstein files?
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 25, 2025
Trump: No pic.twitter.com/gBP5y7uoZg
There’s one slight problem with that...
ANALYSIS: There’s a royal reason Trump won’t escape Jeffrey Epstein fallout on trip to his Scotland golf courses — Prince Andrew
Friday 25 July 2025 21:35
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Oliver O'Connell
Andrew Feinberg writes:
The Republican-led House of Representatives shut down early for its summer break to avoid Jeffrey Epstein motions.
The Senate GOP has been in see-no-evil mode the past week over the controversy swirling around the seemingly vanished “client list” of the high-flying financier and convicted pedophile who once palled around with Donald Trump and Bill Clinton among many other power players.
So it makes perfect sense that President Trump is hoping for five days away from the Epstein fallout firestorm that has landed him in hot water not just with Democrats but his own MAGA base over the Justice Department’s stonewalling on the release of all the Epstein files, as Trump and AG Pam Bondi had promised.
Well, Scotland may not be far enough for that.
Continue reading...
Lawyer: Ghislaine Maxwell named about ‘100 different people’ during DOJ’s Epstein interview
Friday 25 July 2025 21:50
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Oliver O'Connell
Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex offender and former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, answered questions about “100 different people” after being questioned by a top Department of Justice official on Friday, her lawyer said.
Ariana Baio reports.