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.
COMPLETE COVERAGE
More on Trump and his administration: As violence and scarcity continued in Gaza, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff announced that the U.S. was withdrawing from the Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks in Qatar. Local 10 News Reporter Ross Ketschke reports:
More on foreign relations
- Iran says it’s ready for nuclear talks with the US but only if Washington rebuilds trust
- Trump’s trip to Scotland highlights his complex relationship with his mother’s homeland
- Trump tariffs would hit Hungary hard despite warm relations with MAGA-friendly Orbán
Deportations
- Migrant sent to El Salvador prison by the Trump administration says he was beaten by guards
- Trump administration sues New York City over ‘sanctuary city’ policies
Federal Reserve

- How Trump could use a building renovation to oust Fed Chair Powell
- Fed chair tells Trump he has his facts wrong on central bank’s renovation costs
Feds spending cuts
- Trump signs bill to cancel $9 billion in foreign aid, public broadcasting funding
- Trump administration appeals to Supreme Court to allow $783 million research-funding cuts
Crime
Technology
Military
Health
- The Environmental Protection Agency wants to bring back the weed killer dicamba
- UnitedHealth says it is under a federal investigation and cooperating
Higher education
- Trump signs executive order seeking to clarify college athletes’ employment status
- Trump’s settlement with Columbia could become a model for his campaign to reshape higher education
Congressional districts
Hulk Hogan’s death
Copyright 2025 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.