Justice Dept to assess claims of 'alleged weaponization' of US intelligence community
"This Department takes alleged weaponization of the intelligence community with the utmost seriousness," the Justice Department said in a statement.
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The Independent
23 minutes ago
- The Independent
Trump won't rule out pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell. Can anyone trust her?
Over the course of a decade, Ghislaine Maxwell 'facilitated and participated in the sexual abuse of multiple young girls' alongside her partner Jeffrey Epstein while enjoying a 'life of extraordinary luxury and privilege,' according to federal prosecutors. From 1994 to 2004, Maxwell and Epstein worked together to groom young girls — some as young as 14 years old — and enticed them to travel to Epstein's properties, prosecutors said. During a monthlong trial in 2021, survivors testified in federal court in Manhattan that Maxwell had groomed them, took their passports, and sexually abused them. Four victims testified. Prosecutors argued she had lured them into a false sense of security by presenting as a 'glamorous, older woman' who normalized a culture of abuse and silence that shrouded her and Epstein, according to a sentencing memorandum. The federal judge overseeing the case said Maxwell 'played a pivotal role' in their abuse. Four years later, President Donald Trump has, notably, nothing negative to say about the case against a woman he knows, the accusations against her, or the jury's verdict. The president — whose years-long relationship with Epstein and revived allegations of abuse involving the convicted sex offender are under intense public scrutiny — has not ruled out pardoning Maxwell. Maxwell, who is now 63, is not scheduled to be released from prison until 2040. She appealed her conviction to the Supreme Court, which the Department of Justice opposes. Her best chance of early release is a presidential pardon, and legal experts warn that his public statements suggesting that a pardon is even remotely on the table could encourage Maxwell to do anything she can to secure one. Her attorney David Markus said she would 'welcome' one. It's unclear whether anyone involved with Maxwell's case — from Justice Department interviews to the president's public musings on a potential pardon — have considered the impacts to her victims. Former Justice Department pardon attorney Liz Oyer says those discussions have been 'shockingly overlooked.' 'Nobody is talking about how the victims may feel even by these discussions being had,' she told All Rise. Teresa Helm, who had testified against Maxwell, told MSNBC the consequences of a pardon 'would mean the complete crumbling of this justice system that should first and foremost stand for, fight for and protect survivors.' Pardoning Maxwell would be 'extremely problematic and would be a huge loss for individuals like myself,' witness and Epstein accuser Annie Farmer told the BBC. On August 11, Maxwell is scheduled to sit for a jailhouse deposition sought by the GOP-led House Oversight Committee. In a letter to the committee, her attorneys have asked for some immunity protections — and made another appeal to Trump for clemency. 'If Ms. Maxwell were to receive clemency, she would be willing — and eager — to testify openly and honestly, in public, before Congress in Washington, D.C.,' according to the letter, Maxwell's legal team provided to The Independent. 'She welcomes the opportunity to share the truth and to dispel the many misconceptions and misstatements that have plagued this case from the beginning.' Her attorneys insist she did not receive a fair trial, which served as a 'scapegoat' after Epstein's death. The Independent has requested comment from Maxwell's attorneys. A central question is whether she is telling the truth. Trump's own Justice Department in 2020 said she 'brazenly' lied under oath. The judge who oversaw her federal criminal case said she failed to show any 'acceptance of responsibility' for her actions. Oyer told CBS News that Maxwell is likely 'desperate to get out from under that sentence,' adding that 'it's hard to really believe that the Justice Department would rely on anything that she might have to say. 'She has a live criminal appeal. It doesn't make sense that she'd jeopardize it unless she gets some kind of immunity,' wrote journalist Jacob Shamsian, who extensively covered Maxwell's cases. 'And if she does, how can you trust her? She has every incentive in the world to get out of her 20-year sentence.' Democratic Senators Dick Durbin and Sheldon Whitehouse have sought a public commitment that the Justice Department will not advocate for a pardon or commute Maxwell's sentence. The senators called it 'highly unusual' for deputy attorney general Todd Blanche — Trump's former criminal defense attorney — to interview Maxwell, rather than the prosecutors who are familiar with the case. The Trump administration fired Maurene Comey, one of the prosecutors who successfully brought the case against Maxwell, and who questioned witnesses and abuse survivors who testified against her. Durbin and Whitehouse warned that her 'documented record of lying and her desire to secure early release' may lead her to 'provide false information or selectively withhold information in return for a pardon or sentence commutation.' When charges were first announced in July 2020, Trump — whose friendship with Epstein spanned roughly the same time period at the center of Maxwell's case — claimed that he wasn't 'following the case' but said 'I wish her well.' 'I just wish her well, frankly,' he told reporters at the White House at the time. 'I've met her numerous times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach and I guess they lived in Palm Beach. But I wish her well, whatever it is.' Last week, when asked whether he was considering pardoning her in exchange for her cooperation in the Epstein investigation, Trump said he was 'allowed to do it.' Later, he said he 'can't talk about pardons' while Blanche continues to speak with Maxwell. On Saturday, he said it was 'no time to be talking about pardons,' and on Monday, he stressed that he was 'allowed' to pardon Maxwell, 'but nobody has approached me with it.' Maxwell's trial was largely seen as the public reckoning against Epstein that the convicted sex offender never received. Epstein died in his jail cell in 2019 following his arrest before his own trial on sex trafficking charges. 'Ms. Maxwell is not punished in place of Epstein,' New York District Judge Alison Nathan said at her sentencing hearing in 2022. 'Ms. Maxwell is being punished for the role that she played.' Nathan called Maxwell's conduct 'heinous and predatory,' and the 20-year prison sentence imposed on her was intended to 'acknowledge the harm that Ms. Maxwell has caused.' The cases were also enmeshed in wider conspiracy theories amplified by the president and his allies that powerful Democratic figures are trafficking children, claims at the center of so-called 'Pizzagate' and QAnon communities that infected wider Republican politics. But the Trump administration's failure to release so-called 'files' surrounding the Epstein case, which critics had hoped to reveal public figures who exploited and abused young girls while, has fueled allegations that the president is participating in a cover up. After handing binders of mostly previously released evidence in the Epstein case to far-right influencers in February, Bondi reportedly told Trump his name appeared in unreleased files. The Justice Department had reportedly worked around clock to clear 100,000 files connected to the case for public release — but never released them. Elon Musk — who earlier this year tossed what he called a 'bomb' into his falling out with Trump by accusing the president of being in the 'files' — has amplified allegations that Maxwell intends to implicate Democratic officials in the investigation. The idea goes: spurious evidence presented by Maxwell would reaffirm the president's claims he did 'nothing wrong' during his relationship with Epstein while a guilty Trump reaps praise from his base for taking down pedophiles. On his X account, Musk responded to a viral post detailing the allegations with a bullseye emoji. Any revelations from Maxwell's testimony with the help of Trump, who is desperate to change the conversation, could generate a generate a storm of distractions. A pardon quid pro quo would risk political blowback for Trump and his enablers while adding more fuel to allegations of a cover up. Inflaming the tension is a report from The Wall Street Journal that accused the president of writing a bawdy birthday card to Epstein in 2003, which allegedly included 'several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman,' with a birthday wish that 'may every day be another wonderful secret.' Trump has denied ever writing such a note and sued the newspaper, its publishers and the journalists whose bylines appeared on the story for $10 billion. The person who could speak to the authenticity of that message and allegations against Trump is Maxwell, who allegedly asked for birthday greetings from Epstein's friends and put them together in a book for him. During a two-day interview with Blanche, Maxwell answered questions about 'about 100 different people' with potential ties to the Epstein ring, according to her attorney. In exchange, Maxwell was offered a limited form of immunity that would prevent prosecutors from using statements against her in a criminal case. Following her interview with Blanche, Markus said she answered 'all of the questions truthfully, honestly and to the best of her ability.'
The Independent
23 minutes ago
- The Independent
Joe Rogan accuses Trump of ‘gaslighting' over the Epstein files as schism with president grows
Joe Rogan has accused President Donald Trump of 'gaslighting' his supporters over the Epstein files. The podcaster, who has previously been supportive of the president, slammed the administration's handling of the information regarding the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during a 25 July episode of the Joe Rogan Experience with guest Mike Baker, a former CIA covert operations officer. 'This one's a line in the sand, because this is one where there's a lot of stuff about, you know, when we thought Trump was going to come in and a lot of things are going to be resolved, going to drain the swamp, going to figure everything out, and when you have this one hardcore line in the sand that everybody had been talking about forever, and then they're trying to gaslight you on that,' said Rogan. Trump supporters grew furious earlier this month when the administration released a memo rejecting conspiracy theories regarding Epstein's death by suicide in a Manhattan jail in August 2019. The memo stated that there was no 'client list' and that no more information about the case would be released. The Epstein files have been the subject of a litany of conspiracy theories, mostly stemming from the right. Following their public breakup, billionaire and former Trump adviser Elon Musk claimed that Trump is in the files in a since-deleted tweet. Trump participated in an interview with Rogan lasting nearly three hours shortly before the 2024 election, and the podcaster endorsed the then-presidential candidate ahead of his victory. Rogan is just one of a number of conservative media personalities to slam Trump in connection with the Epstein files. As he discussed the Epstein case and the surrounding conspiracy theories with Baker, Rogan mentioned the footage from Epstein's cell in Manhattan, where both the FBI and the Department of Justice found that he had died by suicide. 'Metadata from raw Epstein prison video shows approximately two minutes and 53 seconds were removed from one of the two stitched together clips. The cut starts off at the missing minute,' said Rogan. 'So a guy like that decides, yeah, he's gonna off himself,' Baker responded. 'But here's the thing ... these guys that are all involved in this are still, they've been around for a long time, and they have this mentality that existed before the Internet, where you could just kind of put stuff out there, and you wouldn't have all these psycho sleuths out there that are gonna go over everything with a fine-tooth comb, especially guys who are tech wizards who can look at the metadata, and you can figure this kind of stuff out,' said Rogan. 'They've called the recess on Capitol Hill because they figured by the time they come back in September, everybody will have moved on from this. I think they are wrong,' Baker replied. 'This feels like and just looks like that one of those handful of conspiracies, again, you go to JFK or whomever, that's just gonna hang around,' he added.
Telegraph
24 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Maxwell interview ‘raises more questions than answers', says Laura Loomer
The Trump administration's decision to interview Ghislaine Maxwell behind bars raises more questions than it answers, one of the US president's most loyal foot soldiers said. Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence in Florida for procuring underage girls for her paedophile ex-boyfriend, Jeffrey Epstein, was interviewed for a day and a half by Todd Blanche, the US deputy attorney general, on Friday. Laura Loomer, one of Donald Trump's closest allies and a prominent figure in the Maga movement, has questioned why Maxwell was interviewed by the Department of Justice (DoJ) after it announced it would not release any more files relating to Epstein or investigate anyone else connecting to his sex trafficking offences. 'Anybody who's a decent lawyer, especially you United States attorney general, understands you're supposed to conduct your witness and suspect interviews before you decide to close a case. So how does this even work?' Ms Loomer told The Telegraph. 'Are they trying to tell us that over, over the last several years, since this has been a scandal and since Ghislaine has been in prison that they never once had the DOJ or the FBI interview her? Is that what they're trying to say?' The DoJ's decision earlier this month not to release any further files on Epstein prompted a massive backlash, landing Mr Trump in the biggest political crisis of his second term. Ms Loomer said Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, must be fired for going back on a promise to release all evidence the government collected during its investigations into the paedophile. 'I think that it's obvious that the Epstein debacle is a sore point, a sore subject for the administration,' she said. 'There's no denying the fact that 'Pam Blondie', as I call her, created a PR crisis for the administration. She screwed up.' Conspiracy theorists have long cast doubt on the official story that Epstein died by suicide in a jail cell in 2019. They believe he was murdered in order to protect a powerful cabal of paedophiles. When asked if she would release an Epstein's client list, Ms Bondi previously said it was sitting on her desk for review. Miss Loomer has been one of the loudest voices calling for the administration to reveal everything it has on Epstein. She said the buck stops with Ms Bondi for apparently confirming the existence of a client list. Mr Trump has spent the past five days in Scotland, where his focus has been on golf and European trade talks. However, he could not escape questions about his relationship with Epstein. He laid out for the first time why he fell out with the billionaire about 20 years ago. 'For years, I wouldn't talk to Jeffrey Epstein. I wouldn't talk because he did something that was inappropriate,' he told reporters during a meeting with Sir Keir Starmer, the prime minister. 'He stole people that work for me. I said, 'don't ever do that again'. He did it again, and I threw him out of the place, persona non grata. I threw him out, and that was it.' Mr Trump and Epstein, who first met moving in the same wealthy circles in New York and Florida, bonded over their love of beautiful women and the high life. The financier is even rumoured to have introduced Mr Trump to his third wife, Melania, a claim the first lady denies. Their relationship is said to have taken a turn in 2004, as they both went up against each other to buy up Palm Beach properties.
