Donald Trump’s deputy attorney general has defended his controversial interview with sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell after explosive emails suggested the president “spent hours” with one of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims—contrary to what she told him.
Three months after Todd Blanche met Maxwell to discuss the Epstein files, resulting in the former British socialite being moved to a cushy low-security jail, the deputy attorney general has been accused of using the meeting to protect Trump.
The criticism stemmed from Maxwell telling Blanche during the interview that she had never seen Trump at Epstein’s house.
“I think they were friendly like people are in social settings,” she said, according to transcripts. “I don’t think they were close friends… I don’t recall ever seeing him in his house, for instance.”
However, the bombshell emails released this week show that in April 2011, Epstein wrote to Maxwell describing Trump as a “dog that hasn’t barked” and noting that one of his victims, who has since been identified as Virginia Giuffre, “spent hours at my house with him.”
Maxwell replied: “I have been thinking about that…”
The release of the emails this week sent shockwaves through Washington, with some legal experts and political pundits taking aim at Blanche, who used to be Trump’s personal attorney.
“An important side note about today’s Epstein/Trump revelations,” high-profile lawyer and Trump critic George Conway wrote on X.
“Blanche’s questioning of Ghislaine Maxwell was either (a) completely incompetent; or (b) intentionally crafted not to elicit facts incriminating Trump.
“Either way, he is not fit to serve as Deputy Attorney General of the United States,” added Conway, the former husband of former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway.
But in his first public remarks since the House Oversight Committee released the files, Blanche clapped back and defended his handling of the Maxwell interview.
“When I interviewed Maxwell, law enforcement didn’t have the materials Epstein’s estate hid for years and only just provided to Congress,” he explained on Thursday, firing back at Conway’s post.
“Stop talking,” Blanche told him. “It’s unbecoming.”
Epstein died in a Manhattan jail in 2019 while awaiting trial for his crimes. Maxwell was subsequently sentenced for being his accomplice, after spending years helping to recruit young girls for Epstein to sexually abuse.
But as the political scandal over the Epstein files escalated, Maxwell was moved in July from her jail in Florida to a minimum security prison camp in Texas, which industry publications have listed as one of the “Best Jails in America to Serve Time.”
The transfer came days after her meeting with Blanche, which mysteriously took place after the Department of Justice fired Maurene Comey, the assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Comey, the daughter of Trump enemy and former FBI director James Comey, had prosecuted Epstein and Maxwell, and according to legal experts, was one of the most knowledgeable people in DOJ of Maxwell’s crimes.
“So the fact that she was fired, and the fact that Todd Blanche—who’s not somebody who had worked on this case previously—was handling it, raises questions about whether there’s really any interest in the truth of the matter," former DOJ pardon attorney Liz Oyer told the Daily Beast at the time.
During her interview, Maxwell insisted she was innocent, smeared Epstein’s victims and praised Trump repeatedly.
“The President was never inappropriate with anybody. In the times that I was with him, he was a gentleman in all respects,” she told Blanche.
According to whistleblowers, Maxwell is now receiving a string of perks in jail, including access to a puppy, customized meals, and a special cordoned-off area for visitors, as well as snacks for her guests.
She is also reportedly preparing a request to seek a commutation from Trump in the hope of reducing her sentence.
However, asked about the prospect of a pardon on Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters: “He’s answered this repeatedly. It’s not something he’s talking about or even thinking about at this moment in time.”
In relation to the new documents released this week, she said: “These emails prove absolutely nothing other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong.”
Maxwell’s lawyers have not responded to the Daily Beast’s requests for comment.
