Prosecutors and defense attorneys completed another day of questioning Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s right-hand woman in the longtime sex-trafficking scheme the two orchestrated.
Maxwell’s defense attorney, David Markus, walked up to the federal courthouse in downtown Tallahassee around 9 a.m. July 25 and briefly spoke to reporters, while federal prosecutors dodged the cameras and entered the courthouse through a back entrance in two SUVs with tinted windows.
They wrapped at lunch time with indications that both sides were heading home for the weekend and that the discussions were done – for now.
U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, the second-highest-ranking official in the U.S. Department of Justice, along with other department representatives, spent all of July 24 questioning Maxwell in hopes of finding any new leads in the Epstein case.
After a nearly eight-hour question-and-answer session, Blanche posted on social media that his talks with the late Epstein’s girlfriend and co-conspirator would extend to a second day.
This is the first time the DOJ has requested to speak with the disgraced British socialite about the case. The request to meet with her comes at a time that the public is demanding for fuller disclosures and the names on a rumored “client list” containing other associates of Epstein’s sex scheme
Epstein was arrested in 2019 on federal charges of sex trafficking minors, including abusing and exploiting underage girls, and reportedly involving powerful and influential men. After his arrest, Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial, which has fueled conspiracy theories and requests for more information. Maxwell was convicted in 2021 for her role in recruiting and grooming the victims.
Markus, a Miami-based attorney, told reporters outside the courthouse that the meeting was “very productive” and thanked Blanche for meeting with them and “being so professional with all of us.”
“He took a full day and asked a lot of questions, and Ms. Maxwell answered every single question,” Markus said in a media gaggle following the July 24 meeting. “She never stopped. She never invoked her privilege. She never declined to answer. She answered all the questions truthfully, honestly and to the best of her ability.”
Maxwell was transferred to the federal women’s prison in Tallahassee in 2022 and has been held there since. Blanche and other DOJ members were originally slated to meet with Maxwell behind bars before settling on convening at the U.S. Attorney’s office inside the federal courthouse.
Here are more updates from the day.
Markus tight-lipped on whether Trump came up in DOJ discussions with Maxwell
Ghislaine Maxwell’s attorney declined to say whether President Donald Trump was the focus of any of the U.S. Department of Justice’s questions during a two-day session behind closed doors at the federal courthouse in Tallahassee.
Markus, the Miami attorney who has been at Maxwell’s side during two days of meeting with Blanche, spoke briefly with a USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida reporter after leaving the U.S. Courthouse.
The reporter asked whether President Donald Trump was the focus of any of the questions or answers during Maxwell’s interview with DOJ.
“I’m just not going to talk about the substance,” Markus said.
The deputy attorney general and his entourage largely avoided media cameras and were never close enough to reporters to field any questions.
Blanche, the nation’s No. 2 lawman, represented president during his 2024 criminal trial in New York City, which ended in the felony conviction of then-candidate Trump, who went on to win a second White House term.
Meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell is done
The DOJ’s second day of questioning Maxwell is over.
Over the course of a day and a half, Blanche asked Maxwell “every possible question,” Markus said: “He did a really good job and asked her a lot of things.”
Friday concluded the DOJ’s interviews with Maxwell, and they aren’t interviewing her over the weekend, Markus said as he left the courthouse Friday afternoon. Blanche and his team asked her about “probably 100 people,” and Maxwell provided them with information on every one, he said.
It’s still unclear what the intent for the DOJ’s interview was, and when asked, Markus said, “It’s time for the truth to come out.” Little was discussed during the trial, but it’s a different situation now, he added.
Congress has subpoenaed Maxwell to testify Aug. 11, and he said they’ve yet to decide whether they’ll do that.
“She has been treated unfairly for the past five years,” Markus said. “She didn’t get a fair trial; we’re still appealing to the Supreme Court.”
Plane flies anti-Trump administration banner
As the DOJ meeting with Maxwell wages on, a plane with a banner in tow that reads “TRUMP AND BONDI ARE PROTECTING PREDATORS” is flying overhead of the federal courthouse.
The aircraft is circling the capital city to serve as “a reminder of Epstein’s egregious crimes and Trump’s and Bondi’s exploitation of survivors’ pain for political gain,” according to a news release from activist group UltraViolet.
“Donald Trump and Pam Bondi do not care about survivors of sexual exploitation and abuse. They’ve never taken into account the perspectives and needs of the children, now adult women, who Epstein trafficked and abused, three of whom have taken their own lives,” said Elisa Batista, campaign director for UltraViolet. “Instead, they have heartlessly and carelessly used this case to score political points with right-wing social media influencers and the MAGA base. Survivors deserve better than this.”
Attorney maintains Ghislaine Maxwell held in ‘terrible, awful conditions’ at Tallahassee FCI
Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyer told reporters outside the U.S. Courthouse in Tallahassee that she had been held in “terrible, awful conditions” since her conviction in 2021 on federal sex trafficking charges.
Maxwell, who is serving 20 years in prison for recruiting underage girls for the late Jeffrey Epstein, was initially held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, a notorious jail where a long list of famous defendants have been incarcerated.
She was transferred later to the Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee, where she is being housed in the “honor dorm.”
Maxwell and her attorneys, including David Markus of Miami, met with the U.S. Department of Justice and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche over two days at the federal courthouse in Tallahassee.
As he arrived at the courthouse July 25, Markus decried Maxwell’s living conditions in prison, saying, “We wouldn’t keep animals the way she’s been kept in prison.”
As Markus left later in the day, he clarified that the worst prison conditions were in New York, not Tallahassee.
“Obviously a lot better (in Tallahassee) than it was in New York,” Markus said. “It’s really rough when you’re a high-profile defendant and jail’s not easy … on anyone. But it’s been really hard on her.”
Maxwell’s release date at Tallahassee FCI is listed as July 17, 2037, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
Trump says he hasn’t thought about pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell
President Donald Trump denied ever visiting Epstein’s island and said he hasn’t considered pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving 20 years for conspiring to sexually abuse minors.
“I have nothing to do with the guy,” Trump told reporters of Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 after being charged with sexually trafficking minors.
Lawmakers and others who followed the case have continued to push for the release of the investigative files in the case.
“It’s something I haven’t thought about,” Trump said about a pardon.
Markus, Maxwell’s attorney, said they haven’t spoken to anyone about a pardon, but “it’s the right thing to do.”
“Of course everyone knows that Ms. Maxwell would welcome any kind of relief,” he said. “She’s been in very difficult conditions for five years.”
Attorney: Ghislaine Maxwell ‘one of the strongest women I know’
As he arrived July 25 for a second day of questioning by Blanche, Maxwell’s attorney said he hoped for “another productive day.”
“You know, Ghislaine has been treated unfairly for over five years now,” he said. “If you looked up scapegoat in the dictionary, her face would be next to the dictionary definition of it. So we’re grateful for this opportunity to finally be able to say what really happened – yesterday and today.”
He said Maxwell, who is serving 20 years at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee for her conviction for sex trafficking and other crimes in the notorious Epstein case, was “keeping her spirits up” as much as she can.
“She’s one of the strongest people I’ve ever met,” he said. “She’s been in terrible, awful conditions for five years. We wouldn’t keep animals the way she’s been kept in prison.”
Markus said he hopes Maxwell will be heard “with an open mind, and that’s what … Blanche has promised us. Everything she says can be corroborated and she’s telling the truth. She’s got no reason to lie at this point.”
Accompanying Markus, of the Miami law firm Markus/Moss, were his law partner, Melissa Madrigal, and Maxwell’s longtime attorney Leah Saffian.
What was Ghislaine Maxwell convicted of?
After a lengthy, month-long trial, a jury found Maxwell guilty of multiple federal counts including sex trafficking of a minor, transportation of a minor with intent to engage in illegal sexual activity, and several conspiracy charges.
The verdict came Dec. 29, 2021, just four days after her birthday. She has maintained her innocence and is appealing her conviction.
When did Ghislaine Maxwell go to prison?
Maxwell was sentenced roughly six months after her conviction, in June 2022.
She was first arrested in July 2020, while President Donald Trump was serving his first term as president. She was initially charged with conspiring to entice and transport minors for criminal sexual activity and enticing and transporting a minor for that purpose, as well as with perjury. A later, updated indictment added sex-trafficking charges.
What is Ghislaine Maxwell’s prison sentence?
Maxwell is to serve 20 years in federal prison. She is currently serving her 20-year sentence at the federal prison in Tallahassee and will be eligible for release in July 2037, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) website.
She was also sentenced to five years of supervised release and ordered to pay a $750,000 fine. However, her time could be cut short if Trump, who used to be friends with Epstein and Maxwell, were to issue a pardon.
Where is Ghislaine Maxwell serving her sentence?
Maxwell was transferred to Federal Correctional Institution Tallahassee in 2022; Florida was a state where some of the crimes for which she was convicted occurred.
The federal institution located at 501 Capital Circle N.E. is a “low security federal correctional institution with a detention center.”
Bart Jansen of USA TODAY contributed to this report.
This is a developing news story. Check back later for more.
Elena Barrera is a reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat, a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida. She can be reached at ebarrera@tallahassee.com. Follow her on X: @elenabarreraaa.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: DOJ finishes grilling Ghislaine Maxwell in Tallahassee; lawyer won’t say if Trump came up
Reporting by Elena Barrera, Jeff Burlew and Alicia Devine, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
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