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Deputy Attorney Frequent Todd Blanche accomplished 9 hours of meetings over two days with Ghislaine Maxwell on Friday nevertheless made no public statements about what she mentioned or the next steps in the Justice Division’s remarkable-criticized Jeffrey Epstein investigation.

Faded prosecutors mentioned it became as soon as highly weird — and potentially unprecedented — for a the division’s No. 2 legit to in my thought interview a stare. Secrecy in a criminal investigation is accepted, nevertheless the prosecutors desirous in regards to the case would usually be included in questioning.

“I’ve by no approach heard of a deputy criminal expert total doing anything like this ahead of,” mentioned a broken-down senior Justice Division legit, who spoke on situation of anonymity.

Victims of Epstein and Maxwell, who became as soon as convicted in 2021 of recruiting and grooming multiple teenage girls to be sexually abused by the slack financier, puzzled the dearth of transparency as effectively. Jack Scarola, a criminal expert representing roughly 20 Epstein victims, mentioned he asked to support the Maxwell interviews nevertheless became as soon as no longer included.

Berit Berger, a broken-down federal prosecutor in Recent York, mentioned the interviews by Blanche, who worked as Trump’s broken-down protection criminal expert, is probably going to be performative.

“It is miles likely to be true a approach of having the potential to claim, ‘Survey, we dotted every I and crossed every T,’” she mentioned. “There’s designate to having the potential to claim that we’ve tried to talk to every person we presumably might perhaps perhaps perhaps, together with the co-defendant.”

Attorney Frequent Pam Bondi, Blanche and President Donald Trump himself have struggled to quell the uproar since the DOJ and FBI presented on July 6 that an exhaustive Epstein case overview had no longer uncovered proof that justified investigating numerous people. FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino — who have each and each unfold conspiracy theories in regards to the Epstein case — backed these findings and a DOJ resolution to launch no numerous Epstein case documents.

Catherine Christian, a broken-down Long island assistant district criminal expert and an NBC Data criminal analyst, mentioned the Maxwell interviews might perhaps perhaps perhaps furthermore be an effort to present protection to Trump, who now faces one of many ideal political crises of his 2d term in the furor over the Epstein investigation.

Trump, like dozens of numerous prosperous Individuals, socialized with Epstein. He is amongst a total bunch of people whose names appear in 100,000 pages of Epstein case documents reviewed by the DOJ and the FBI.

“It’s tense to have confidence right here is anything nevertheless performative,” Christian mentioned. “Or Todd Blanche, true desirous to have her on the file announcing, ‘Certain, President Trump had nothing to carry out with any of this. He became as soon as no longer a client.’”

What became as soon as Maxwell asked?

Maxwell’s criminal expert, David Oscar Markus, is a top Florida criminal protection criminal expert and a friend of Blanche’s. Blanche seemed on Markus’ podcast in 2024, the establish the host praised Blanche’s criminal abilities. After Friday’s meeting with Blanche and Maxwell, Markus urged reporters that the deputy criminal expert total “did an astonishing job” and asked Maxwell thorough questions.

“She became as soon as asked presumably about 100 numerous of us,” mentioned Markus, who did no longer hiss which contributors Maxwell became as soon as puzzled about. “She answered questions about every person, and he or she didn’t support anything assist,” he mentioned. “They asked about each, every that that you can perhaps perhaps also judge thing that you can perhaps have confidence, everything.”

A senior administration legit, who spoke on situation of anonymity because he became as soon as no longer licensed to talk publicly, mentioned that Maxwell became as soon as granted limited immunity by the Justice Division to answer to questions in regards to the Epstein case.

Granting limited immunity is total in criminal cases and permits defendants to create records with out danger that this is also conventional in opposition to them in court docket.

The immunity is “limited” because it fully applies if the defendant is telling the fact. Whether it is miles sure that a defendant lied at some stage in the interviews, then the settlement turns into void. Prosecutors can remember a defendant’s cooperation and recommend a plea deal or a reduced sentence.

That is no longer expected in Maxwell’s case, as she has already been convicted and sentenced to twenty years in federal prison. Maxwell’s criminal expert, Markus, has argued that Maxwell’s trial became as soon as unfair and an appeal of her conviction is pending ahead of the Supreme Court.

Doable pardon or commutation

Trump, like any presidents, has the vitality to pardon or lumber back and forth the sentence of someone convicted of a federal crime. Asked about Epstein’s case on Friday morning, Trump mentioned the heart of attention must be on numerous of us that socialized with Epstein, equivalent to broken-down President Invoice Clinton and Larry Summers, the broken-down treasury secretary and Harvard College president.

“It is most reasonable to restful heart of attention on Clinton,” the president urged reporters. “It is most reasonable to restful heart of attention on the president of Harvard, the broken-down president of Harvard. It is most reasonable to restful heart of attention on a few of the hedge fund guys.”

“I’ll come up with a checklist. These guys lived with Jeffrey Epstein. I definite as hell didn’t,” Trump mentioned.

Asked if he became as soon as pondering granting Maxwell a pardon or commuting her sentence, Trump mentioned, “It’s something I haven’t belief about.”

“I’m allowed to carry out it,” he added.

Mimi Rocah, a broken-down federal prosecutor in Recent York, mentioned she believes essentially the most smartly-liked firing of Maurene Comey, a lead prosecutor in the Maxwell case and the daughter of broken-down FBI Director James Comey, became as soon as an effort to offer Trump appointees beefy adjust of the Maxwell case, limit transparency and silence dissent.

“That would now not seem coincidental. It sounds like they wanted Maurene no longer to be most smartly-liked in the Division of Justice,” Rocah mentioned. “As a blueprint to claim, ‘What the heck, that you can perhaps perhaps also’t lumber discuss with my defendant.’”

Rocah, a Democrat who served as Westchester County district criminal expert from 2020 to 2024, criticized Blanche’s meetings with Maxwell, announcing his apparent failure to incorporate a prosecutor with deep knowledge of her crimes became as soon as unfair to Epstein’s victims.

“The pinnacle of that total institution that is alleged to be about retaining victims is talking to her, giving her a platform to claim God knows what, with out remarkable technique to ascertain it or no longer,” Rocah mentioned. “The particular of us that might perhaps perhaps well test her reality-telling are the of us that worked on the case, no longer Todd.”