Ghislaine Maxwell was questioned for hours on Thursday by the U.S. Department of Justice. This took place in a prison in Florida, where the former girlfriend and accomplice of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is serving a twenty-year prison sentence.
The Department of Justice announced the interrogation of Maxwell earlier this week. Todd Blanche, Under Secretary at the department, traveled to Florida to hear what the 63-year-old Epstein accomplice had to say.
Maxwell’s lawyer, David Markus, said his client answered all questions from the ministry honestly. He refuses to comment on the content of the conversations.
The interrogation of Maxwell is remarkable given that there was an extensive legal process that led to her conviction in 2022. A judge sentenced her to twenty years in prison for her role in facilitating the sexual abuse of her late friend Epstein. There is no reason to believe that she has new information.
Moreover, prosecutors from the same Department of Justice accused her during that trial of “shamelessly lying” about her behavior, under oath no less, reports POLITICO. The news site says Maxwell is able to “say exactly what the Trump administration wants to hear” in the current talks with justice.
Justice is trying to prove transparency with interrogation
But the Trump administration mainly wants to divert attention from Epstein and Maxwell. This is due to a media storm that has held the White House in its grip for weeks through its own fault. Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi promised earlier this year to uncover secret information about the Epstein case. In doing so, they fueled conspiracy theories about the cause of Epstein’s death and an alleged client list that he kept.
Last week, Bondi reported that there was no secret information at all: there are no doubts about the cause of Epstein’s death (he hanged himself in his cell in 2019) and there is no evidence of a client list. That led to great outrage in a section of Trump’s supporters, who are increasingly beginning to believe that Trump himself has something to hide.
That distrust was further fueled on Wednesday when The Wall Street Journal reported that Bondi had already informed her president in May that his name appears in the court documents surrounding Epstein. That does not mean that Trump had anything to do with Epstein’s practices, but it does fuel distrust in his supporters.
Thursday’s interrogation of Maxwell should convince critical Trump supporters that justice is indeed transparent and doing its best to get the truth out. It remains to be seen whether that will succeed.