Trump's MAGA allies zero in on Ghislaine Maxwell as Epstein furor persists
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Trump was once an acquaintance of Maxwell and Epstein and has also amplified conspiracy theories about the case. Now he finds himself under constant pressure to reveal more, even as the continued interest threatens him politically, with a slice of the world waiting to discover what else there is to know about his relationship to Epstein and whether it implicates the sitting president. Many MAGA luminaries who say Maxwell is vital to cracking the case would consider leniency, so long as she identifies the child rapists they say have gone unpunished and arms authorities with the evidence needed to convict them.
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She spent hours this week in interviews with the Justice Department, marking the Trump administration's latest effort to show the president's base that he is doing something to release information about the Epstein case in response to political furor. Officials set off a firestorm among some of the president's supporters nearly three weeks ago by announcing that they were closing the case without further arrests or sharing any of the 'truckload of evidence' that Attorney General Pam Bondi said the FBI had received just months before.
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Those interested in Epstein have long wondered what Maxwell might know, but fresh controversy over the case has elicited renewed urgency as additional accounts surface that illuminate the contours of Trump's relationship with Epstein.
'She is a living piece of evidence,' right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson said in an Instagram video, adding, 'If you're looking for the person to give you the truth about Epstein, there's no one better to give it to you.'
Johnson then rattled off a string of conspiracy theories
unsupported by facts, saying that Maxwell knows about whether Epstein was an intelligence asset, which agency he was working for, and who protected his powerful clients once Epstein was exposed. Johnson praised the Trump administration for going to her to get answers.
'This is what we've been calling for,' Johnson said, adding, 'This is what transparency looks like.'
Charlie Kirk, founder of the influential right-wing nonprofit Turning Point USA, also applauded the Trump administration for 'going straight to the source' by interviewing Maxwell, which he said was evidence that officials were listening to 'the voices of the base.'
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Kirk on his show floated the idea of federal officials striking a deal with Maxwell for information.
'This is so powerful. If anybody actually has the information of what has happened around Jeffrey Epstein, it's not going to be some James Comey-created file. It is going to be Ghislaine Maxwell,' he said.
Right-wing commentators and conspiracy theorists have fixated on the Epstein case for years. He first faced criminal charges in 2006 related to the sexual exploitation of underage girls. Some, including current high-level Trump officials, accused the Biden administration of hiding critical information to protect powerful people who they believe participated in Epstein's alleged sex-trafficking crimes.
As Trump returned to the White House, he and his top Justice Department appointees appeared to agree that the incoming administration should release more evidence. But the promised records never materialized, and the Justice Department and FBI on July 6 said in a memo that they would not release more information tied to the case, stating that a 'systematic review' failed to find evidence that would justify criminally investigating anyone else. Criminal investigative files typically are shielded from public view.
Maxwell's 20-year sentence on a sex-trafficking conviction punctuated the stunning fall of a former socialite who, as the daughter of a British billionaire and former member of parliament, grew up in luxury, among power brokers. Her lawyers said she met Epstein in the 1990s after the death of her father, who was posthumously accused of embezzling large sums from his companies. Maxwell dated Epstein, a financier, and later worked as his employee, a role prosecutors said she used to traffic young sexual abuse victims to Epstein. Maxwell denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty, but in 2021, a jury convicted her of sex trafficking a minor and related crimes.
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Epstein was found dead in his jail cell while awaiting trial in 2019. His death was ruled a suicide.
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