logo
Justice Department wants to interview Jeffrey Epstein's former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell

Justice Department wants to interview Jeffrey Epstein's former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell

Chicago Tribune2 days ago
WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice wants to interview Jeffrey Epstein's former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of helping the financier sexually abuse underage girls and is now serving a lengthy prison sentence, a senior official said Tuesday.
If Maxwell 'has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the DOJ will hear what she has to say,' Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a post on X, adding that President Donald Trump 'has told us to release all credible evidence.' A lawyer for Maxwell confirmed there were discussions with the government.
The overture to attorneys for Maxwell, who in 2022 was sentenced to 20 years in prison, is part of an ongoing Justice Department effort to cast itself as transparent following fierce backlash from parts of Trump's base over an earlier refusal to release additional records in the Epstein investigation.
As part of that effort, the Justice Department, acting at the direction of the Republican president, last week asked a judge to unseal grand jury transcripts from the case. That decision is ultimately up to the judge.
Epstein, who killed himself in his New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial, sexually abused children hundreds of times over more than a decade, exploiting vulnerable girls as young as 14, authorities say. He couldn't have done so without the help of Maxwell, his longtime companion, prosecutors say.
The Justice Department had said in a two-page memo this month that it had not uncovered evidence to charge anyone else in connection with Epstein's abuse. But Blanche said in his social media post that the Justice Department 'does not shy away from uncomfortable truths, nor from the responsibility to pursue justice wherever the facts may lead.'
He said in his post that, at the direction of Attorney General Pam Bondi, he has 'communicated with counsel for Ms. Maxwell to determine whether she would be willing to speak with prosecutors from the Department.' He said he anticipated meeting with Maxwell in the coming days.
A lawyer for Maxwell, David Oscar Markus, said Tuesday in a statement: 'I can confirm that we are in discussions with the government and that Ghislaine will always testify truthfully. We are grateful to President Trump for his commitment to uncovering the truth in this case.'
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Trump administration appeals to Supreme Court to allow $783 million research-funding cuts
Trump administration appeals to Supreme Court to allow $783 million research-funding cuts

Yahoo

time19 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Trump administration appeals to Supreme Court to allow $783 million research-funding cuts

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to allow it to cut hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of research funding in its push to roll back federal diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. The Justice Department argued a federal judge in Massachusetts was wrong to block the National Institutes of Health from making $783 million worth of cuts to align with President Donald Trump's priorities. U.S. District Judge William Young found that the abrupt cancellations ignored long-held government rules and standards. Young, an appointee of Republican President Ronald Reagan, also said the cuts amounted to 'racial discrimination and discrimination against America's LGBTQ community.' The ruling came in lawsuits filed by 16 attorneys general, public-health advocacy groups and some affected scientists. His decision addressed only a fraction of the hundreds of NIH research projects that have been cut. The Trump administration's appeal also takes aim at nearly two dozen cases over funding. Solicitor General D. John Sauer pointed to a 5-4 decision on the Supreme Court's emergency docket from April that allowed cuts to teacher training programs to go forward. That decisions shows that district judges shouldn't be hearing those cases at all, but rather sending them to federal claims court, he argued. Lindsay Whitehurst, The Associated Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

‘You just added a third building': Powell fact checks Trump's Fed renovation as awkward hard-hat visit turns tense
‘You just added a third building': Powell fact checks Trump's Fed renovation as awkward hard-hat visit turns tense

Yahoo

time19 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

‘You just added a third building': Powell fact checks Trump's Fed renovation as awkward hard-hat visit turns tense

President Donald Trump's attempt to shame Federal Reserve Board of Governors chair Jerome Powell over the cost of a long-running renovation to the central bank's Washington headquarters went horribly wrong on Thursday when Powell had a ready response for the president's accusations during a tour of the construction site. After viewing parts of the costly renovation, Trump and Powell stopped briefly to speak to reporters who'd traveled to the Federal Reserve headquarters with the president. Trump said the cost of the years-long project was now 'about $3.1 billion' rather than the $2.7 billion previously stated by Powell. 'So we're taking a look, and it looks like it's about 3.1 billion went up a little bit or a lot. So the 2.7 is now 3.1 it just came out,' he said reading from a piece of paper, as Powell looked on and shook his head in the negative before interjecting. The chairman replied: 'I haven't heard that from anybody' and asked if the paper Trump was reading from came from the central bank. At that point, Trump handed him the paper and continued talking while Powell pulled out his reading glasses to look. He then told the president that the higher number he was claiming included a separate project that wasn't part of the renovation at issue. 'You just added in a third building,' he said. When Trump replied that the building in question was currently 'being built,' Powell spoke up once more to disabuse the president of his misunderstanding of what he was reading. He told Trump that he was mistakenly counting long-completed renovations to a building named for William Martin Jr., who served as Fed chair from 1951–1970, as part of the renovation of the Fed's main headquarters. 'No, it's been it was built five years ago. We finished Martin five years ago,' he said. Asked by reporters if he expects more overruns on the lengthy project, Powell said the Fed is 'ready' for any but doesn't expect more. 'We have a little bit of a reserve that we may use, but no,' he said before adding that he expects to project will wrap in 2027 — a year after his term as chairman is set to end. Trump and his allies have said the $2.5 billion renovation of the Fed headquarters and a neighboring building reflects an institution run amok — a belief they had hoped to verify in an afternoon tour of the construction site. The site visit by the president is an attempt to further ratchet up pressure on Powell, whom the Republican president has relentlessly attacked for not cutting borrowing costs. Trump's attacks have put the Fed, a historically independent institution, under a harsh spotlight. Undermining its independence could reduce the Fed's ability to calm financial markets and stabilize the U.S. economy. The president has made no secret of his distaste for Powell, whom he nominated to lead the Federal Reserve in 2017, primarily because of Powell's refusal to lower interest rates, particularly in light of Trump's decision to levy tariffs. Powell has said that the central bank needs time to see what effects tariffswill have on inflation and employment before making a determination on interest rates. This has prompted Trump to call Powell a 'stupid person.' The president can do little to remove Powell. Joe Biden re-nominated Powell for another five-year term in 2021 based on his steady leadership during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, and his term would expire in May. Federal statute says the president can only remove Powell 'for cause.' For a time, it appeared as if Trump and his allies had found such a cause in the costly renovation of the Fed's headquarters. But Trump, a former real estate developer, appeared to soften his criticisms of the project after viewing it himself. Appearing in his element while sporting a hard hat, Trump said he would like to see the project finish. 'In many ways it's too bad it started, but it did start, and it's been under construction for a long time. Gonna be it's going to be a real long time, because it looks like it's got a long way to go,' he said. A short time later, he told reporters that he'd had a 'very good tour' and declined to repeat his earlier criticisms of the project. He did, however, give a detailed description of the project's complexity with regard to a basement being dug beneath the Washington, D.C. water table. 'I was given a very nice tour by the head of construction. And, you know, look, if you look over here, they're trying to open up the basement. When you open up a basement, first of all, it's the worst space — always. A basement is the worst space in a building, and it's also the most expensive space to build, and especially here, because you have a water line, you know, you they're going down into the water. So they have to build a reverse, what's called a reverse bathtub. The water has to be kept out. It's very expensive construction,' he said. 'There's always Monday morning quarterbacks. I don't want to be that. I want to help them get it finished. It's been going around for years, and I want to help them get it finished.' He later wrote on Truth Social that it had been a 'great honor' to tour the building. 'It's got a long way to go, would have been much better if it were never started, but it is what it is and, hopefully, it will be finished ASAP,' he said. 'The cost overruns are substantial but, on the positive side, our Country is doing very well and can afford just about anything — Even the cost of this building!' He added that he'd be 'watching' the project and hoped to add his own expertise, citing his eponymous real estate company's renovation of the historic Old Post Office building into the hotel that became a MAGA hotspot during his first term before it was sold in 2021. 'The total Construction cost was a small fraction of the Fed Building's cost, and it is many times the size. With all of that being said, let's just get it finished and, even more importantly, LOWER INTEREST RATES!' he said. Despite the president's past criticism, it appears he has backed down from his implicit threat to fire Powell due to negative reaction from markets. Last week during an Oval Office press opportunity, Trump told reporters it was 'highly unlikely' that he would upend nearly a century of precedent by attempting to sack Powell less than a day after he reportedly polled a group of Republican lawmakers on whether he should sack the central bank boss during a Tuesday night meeting in the Oval Office after the 12 House Republicans blocked a cryptocurrency bill favored by the president. With additional reporting by agencies and Washington Bureau Chief Eric Garcia

'Say It, Scott': CNN Panel Turns Testy After Scott Jennings Resorts To Name-Calling
'Say It, Scott': CNN Panel Turns Testy After Scott Jennings Resorts To Name-Calling

Yahoo

time19 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

'Say It, Scott': CNN Panel Turns Testy After Scott Jennings Resorts To Name-Calling

A segment from CNN's 'NewsNight with Abby Phillip' on Wednesday evening seemed to get tense after conservative commentator Scott Jennings threw an insult at fellow panelist Keith Boykin, a former White House aide to President Bill Clinton. During a discussion about Columbia University's announcement that it had reached a deal with the Trump administration on Wednesday to pay more than $220 million to restore federal research money, Boykin called out Jennings for interrupting Republican commentator Ana Navarro, who was commenting on the agreement. 'Do you have to interrupt every conversation? Do you have to be a part of every conversation?' Boykin asked. 'You're such a whiny [inaudible],' Jennings replied. 'A whiny what, Scott? Say it, Scott ... say it, Scott, ' Boykin responded. (Watch the moment here.) Boykin had also called out Jennings for interrupting him earlier in the conversation: 'You talk about people interrupting you, but you do it all the time.' People on X, formerly Twitter, slammed the polarizing CNN pundit for calling Boykin 'whiny' after the segment aired on TV. 'Why would Abby not allow Boykin to adequately address Jennings?,' one X user wrote, calling Jennings' behavior an example of a microaggression. 'Accusing someone else of being a whiny ass in the midst of your own whining is peak irony,' wrote another. Alexandra Cromer, a licensed therapist with Thriveworks, said that the moment on-air said a lot about the tense attitudes that exist in our current political climate — and Jennings' insult was a 'complete communication interrupter.' 'Clinically, if you want to communicate effectively, be clear, objective and direct as possible,' she said, adding, 'At that point, calling someone 'whiny' takes away meaning from their statements and does not promote further conversations or civil discourse.' By calling Boykin 'whiny,' Jennings may have been seeking to reduce his power, Cromer explained. 'In this situation, calling someone 'whiny' can communicate a dismissive and condescending tone,' Cromer said. 'By using an insult in any circumstance, you aim to reduce the other person's power and to obtain more perceived control over the situation.' Cromer explained that using the word 'whiny' specifically could have been an attempt by Jennings to imply that what Boykin was thinking and feeling is 'not good enough.' ″[It] promotes the concept of a power hierarchy and structure within the conversation when the panel is displayed as being as equitable as possible in panelist input opportunities,' she said. And Cromer said that Boykin's direct response to Jennings can be an example of 'a useful solution to a disagreement and/or miscommunication problem.' She cautioned, however, that when someone is addressing someone who insulted them, they should ensure that they are using 'clear, direct and objective communication.' 'The way that Boykin responded to Jenkins can also be seen as a personalized insult or weaponized conversation,' she said. Generally speaking, Cromer recommends that people take time to organize their thoughts when on the receiving end of an insult to 'be the most effective version of yourself.' And as it relates to Jennings calling Boykin 'whiny' during a panel discussion on network TV, Cromer emphasized that resorting to name-calling in any kind of professional environment can especially be viewed as being 'dismissive and disrespectful.' It can communicate a 'blatant lack of respect,' as well as perhaps a 'willful intolerance of views, opinions and emotional reactions that are different than your own and are outside of your own emotional experience.' Related... Scott Jennings Announces Why 'Liberal Tears Will Flow' In Next Move Scott Jennings Scorched For Calling Questions About Historic Racist Incidents A 'Gotcha' Columbia University Agrees To Pay More Than $220 Million In Deal With Trump

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store