DOJ meets with Jeffrey Epstein’s ex-girlfriend in Tallahassee

Ghislaine Maxwell, a convicted sex offender in prison, meets with deputy attorney general

Trump administration meets with Ghislaine Maxwell

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche met with Ghislaine Maxwell on Thursday at the federal courthouse in Tallahassee, as President Donald Trump deals with a public outcry for the release of Jeffrey Epstein’s files.

Attorney David Markus, who represents Maxwell, a convicted sex offender serving a 20-year sentence, told reporters that her meeting with Blanche at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida was “very productive,” The Tallahassee Democrat reported.

On Wednesday, the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform subpoenaed Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 of crimes related to helping Epstein sexually abuse and traffic teenage girls, to testify in August.

Earlier this month, the Justice Department and the FBI announced that the Epstein-related files were not going to be released. Maxwell, an Oxford-educated socialite born in France who lived in London and New York, is appealing her conviction.

Evidence of Trump’s former friendship with Epstein, a Florida sex offender born and raised in New York, continued to surface this week despite the president’s claim that the two had a fallout.

Officials reported that Epstein, a former Dalton School mathematics teacher turned wealthy hedge fund manager and owner of a private island in the Caribbean, died by suicide in 2019.

Epstein, whose friends included royalty, politicians, celebrities, and academics, died while in jail awaiting a federal trial in Manhattan.

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About The Author
Ben Kennedy

Ben Kennedy

Ben Kennedy is an Emmy Award-winning Washington Bureau Chief for Local 10 News.

Andrea Torres

Andrea Torres

The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.