The U.S. Department of Justice has contacted Ghislaine Maxwell to ask if she has more information about her deceased associate Jeffrey Epstein. The former businessman committed suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex abuse charges.
“Justice will ask Ghislaine Maxwell for the first time ever: what do you know?” writes senior official Todd Blanche of the Department on X. Blanche says he has contacted Maxwell’s legal team. She was sentenced to twenty years in prison in 2022 for her involvement in Epstein’s sex crimes.
Attorney General Pam Bondi confirms the news in a post on X. “If Maxwell has information about someone who has committed crimes, the FBI and the Department will listen to what she has to say.”
Maxwell’s legal team confirms that Justice has contacted their client. Lawyer David Oscar Markus tells CNN that “we will always testify truthfully.”
A possible conversation between Maxwell and Justice is a direct result of the media storm surrounding Epstein in which the U.S. government has been in recent weeks. President Donald Trump and Minister Bondi are under fire from some of their supporters over how they handled the Epstein case.
With the approach to Maxwell, the government now wants to avert the crisis. Trump said on Tuesday he supported the decision to talk to the sex offender.
Trump Supporters Outraged About Epstein Approach
There are two persistent conspiracy theories surrounding the deceased sex offender. The first is about Epstein’s cause of death. Some Americans do not believe he committed suicide, even though this has been repeatedly proven. The second conspiracy theory suggests that Epstein kept a client list with the names of prominent Americans, including politicians.
Bondi promised Trump supporters who think the Epstein case stinks to get the truth out. But last week she suddenly backtracked: there was no client list at all and there were no doubts about the cause of death, the ministry wrote in a memo. Bondi then closed the Epstein investigation.
This led to great outrage among her supporters and in part of the Republican factions in Congress, The New York Times reports. As a result, Trump is now, according to some, part of the Epstein conspiracy. The president knew Epstein, but denies being friends with him.