Trump, Epstein and the story that won't go away
As conspiracy theories collide with real political fallout, journalist Emily Maitlis unpacks the story that just won't die. Why is the US Congress so afraid of what Epstein's files might reveal? Why is Trump struggling to contain a narrative he once helped fuel? And what does this all say about truth, power, and accountability in 2025?
Plus, Maitlis explains why Keir Starmer's global statesmanship isn't landing at home, and why Nigel Farage is nipping at his heels.
Guest:
Emily Maitlis: Co-host of The News Agents, former BBC Newsnight presenter, and the journalist behind the viral Prince Andrew interview.
Recommendations:
Hamish: Ali France's Tragedy to Triumph segment on the ABC's 7:30 Report
Geraldine: The Briefing Room – Is The Tide Turning on the Ukraine War?
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News.com.au
21 hours ago
- News.com.au
US politics live: Donald Trump labels Charlamagne tha God a ‘racist sleazebag' over Epstien comments
Welcome, for another week, to our live coverage of US politics. President Donald Trump has lashed out at broadcaster Charlamagne tha God over his comments on the Jeffrey Epstein case. 'I think this Epstein thing is going to be a way for traditional conservatives to take their party back. I really do,' Charlamagne told Mr Trump's daughter-in-law Lara Trump, who is married to his son Eric, during an interview with Fox News. 'I think they know this is the issue that has gotten the base riled up. The MAGA base isn't letting this issue go. And for the first time, they know they can probably take their party back and not piss off the MAGA base. I think they're going to do that.' Mr Trump disagrees. 'The very wonderful and talented Lara Trump, whose show is a big ratings success, put racist sleazebag Charlamagne 'The God' (why is he allowed to use the word 'GOD' when describing himself? Can anyone imagine the uproar there would be if I used that nickname?),' said Mr Trump, without quite finishing his sentence. 'He's a Low IQ individual, has no idea what words are coming out of his mouth, and knows nothing about me or what I have done,' he added. 'This dope, Charlamagne, would vote for Sleepy Joe or Kamala? Remember, one year ago our Country was DEAD, now it's the 'HOTTEST' Country anywhere in the World. MAGA!!!' Elsewhere Chris Christie, the Republican former governor of New Jersey, has accused Mr Trump of behaving like a 'petulant child' by firing the head of America's labour statistics body after a worryingly abysmal jobs report. 'I've been talking about (this) since 2018,' Mr Christie told America's ABC News. 'When he gets news he doesn't like, he needs someone to blame, because he won't take the responsibility himself. 'And this is the action of a petulant child. You give me bad news, I fire the messenger.' Mr Christie has been on something of a journey, when it comes to Mr Trump. He was among the first high profile elected Republicans to endorse Mr Trump in the party's 2016 primaries. However he has since soured on the President. He went on to rubbish any suggestion that the labour statistics could be 'rigged'. 'From everything I learned over my eight years as governor, it would be almost impossible for anyone to try to rig these numbers, because so many people are involved in putting them together,' said Mr Christie. 'When it comes to the director, the woman who was fired, all she's doing is being a conduit of the information ... it's irresponsible, but it also shows you the way he manages.'
Daily Telegraph
3 days ago
- Daily Telegraph
‘Pure evil': Epstein survivors and their families horrified as co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell suddenly framed as a ‘victim'
Don't miss out on the headlines from World. Followed categories will be added to My News. Multiple victims of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell have expressed their disgust at suggestions she could receive 'preferential treatment' from the government, or perhaps even a presidential pardon. They are increasingly, palpably worried that Maxwell's monstrous crimes, particularly those committed against underage girls, are being forgotten. Maxwell, who has never admitted to her role in Epstein's sex trafficking scheme, was the person chiefly responsible for procuring minors for him to abuse. She enticed them into his orbit, groomed them, and used various methods to keep them trapped. The victims have long alleged that Maxwell also participated in the sexual abuse. Get all the latest news happening around the world as it happens — download the app direct to your phone. Epstein and Maxwell in 2005. Picture: Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images Last month, as the Trump administration struggled to neutralise a public backlash against its handling of the Epstein files, the man Donald Trump had appointed Deputy Attorney-General – his own former defence lawyer, Todd Blanche – went to visit Maxwell. Mr Blanche spoke to Epstein's partner and chief co-conspirator for two days. Lawyers representing Maxwell, who are currently trying to get the Supreme Court to throw out her convictions on child sex trafficking charges, later said she had discussed about a hundred people connected to the Epstein case. Obvious fears arose among Maxwell's victims. Did the government intend to seek a shortening of her 20-year prison sentence in exchange for her co-operation? Was President Trump open to pardoning her, which would set her free immediately? And how would the obvious conflicts of interest be navigated? Mr Trump, who was friends with Epstein and Maxwell for about 15 years and whose name reportedly appears 'multiple times' in the Epstein files, wants to be absolved of any suggestion he was involved in their crimes (and, we should note, there is at the moment no evidence he was). Maxwell, obviously, wants to get out of jail, something she almost certainly cannot achieve without Mr Trump's grace. Every incentive compels her to be, ahem, helpful to the President. And this is someone with a long record of lying, including while under oath. Perhaps nothing is amiss, but the ingredients for a potentially corrupt quid pro quo are there. You can understand why Epstein's survivors are suspicious. Mr Trump, his now-wife Melania (then named Knauss), Epstein and Maxwell in 2000. It should be stressed that the Trumps are far from the only famous people to have been pictured with them. Picture:Two other elements have fed into their building unease. First, on the fringes of America's right-wing media, some bloviaters have started to speak of Maxwell as a 'victim'. 'I think this is great,' Newsmax anchor Greg Kelly said last week, for example, referring to the government's overtures towards her. 'I do have a feeling that she just might be a victim. She just might be. There was a rush to judgment, there was a lot of chaos there for a while. 'Granted, she hung out with Jeffrey Epstein, and I know that's apparently not good.' Apparently! (Oh, and Maxwell did much more than merely 'hang out' with Epstein, as we shall explore in a moment. Apparently some folks need to be reminded.) Second, today we learned that the government had quietly moved Maxwell from her jail in Florida to a lower security one in Texas, which houses several female celebrity inmates. The fraudster Elizabeth Holmes is there, for example. Why move Maxwell? That has not been explained. Hence an angry statement released today, co-signed by Annie and Maria Farmer, both of whom were victims of Epstein and Maxwell, plus the family of Virginia Giuffre, who did so much to expose the pair's crimes before taking her own life earlier this year. Virginia Roberts Giuffre outside court in 2019. Picture: Barry Williams/Tribune News Service via Getty Images 'It is with horror and outrage that we object to the preferential treatment convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has received,' the statement reads. 'Ghislaine Maxwell is a sexual predator who physically assaulted minor children on multiple occasions, and she should never be shown any leniency. 'Yet, without any notification to the Maxwell victims, the government overnight has moved Maxwell to a minimum security prison. This is the justice system failing victims right before our eyes. 'The American public should be enraged by the preferential treatment being given to a pedophile and a criminally charged child sex offender. 'The Trump administration should not credit a word Maxwell says, as the government itself sought charges against her for being a serial liar. 'This move smacks of a cover-up. The victims deserve better.' Annie and Maria Farmer in 2019. Epstein and Maxwell. Picture: US District Court/AFP Some other remarks worth mentioning, here. 'My little sister is one of her victims, and so am I,' Maria Farmer told MSNBC, slamming politicians who 'want to entertain Ghislaine Maxwell' and 'act like we victims should not be heard from'. Her sister Annie told The Daily Mail any deal between the government and Maxwell would 'be devastating' and 'feel like a slap in the face'. 'It doesn't sit well that this is all happening without any involvement from the people they asked to testify in her case, or other victims,' she said. 'It's hard not to be anxious.' Theresa Helm said any leniency shown towards Maxwell 'would mean the complete crumbling of this justice system'. 'We all deserve a pathway to justice. We don't deserve to have it, yet again, robbed from us,' she told MSNBC. 'It truly does seem like an upside down world.' During an interview about Maxwell's case in 2021, which feels relevant in this discussion, Sarah Ransome described Maxwell as 'the chief orchestrator' who had 'forced' her into the room where Epstein raped her. 'It actually makes me sick that she is claiming to be a victim, or have any form of innocence' said Ms Ransome. 'This is the same woman that grabbed my arm and forced me into a room to be raped by Jeffrey. It was brutal. 'And I remember limping from Jeffrey's bedroom. I remember looking at Ghislaine, and she had this evil smirk on her face. She knew I was there to be raped, and she enjoyed it.' Sarah Ransome outside court in 2021. Picture: Bryan R. Smith/AFP Speaking to CNN this week Ms Giuffre's brother, Sky Roberts, said Maxwell 'deserves to rot in prison, where she belongs'. 'Because of what she's done to my sister, and so many other women. It's absolutely a pure sense of evil,' Mr Roberts said. 'She wasn't stolen. She was preyed upon,' he added, alluding to Mr Trump's complaint this week that Epstein 'stole' staff from his Mar-a-Lago resort, including Ms Giuffre. '(Maxwell) wasn't just a recruiter. She participated, and viciously participated, with these girls, abusing them.' He said his sister described Maxwell as a 'monster' from 'a nightmare'. Maxwell. And Epstein. Journalist Tara Palmeri, who has reported extensively on the Epstein case and knows multiple victims, described recent events as 'infuriating'. 'Because I know so much about her. I know the damage she did to these girls,' Ms Palmeri said on her YouTube channel. 'So many of them are more angry with her, for the abuse, than Epstein. She was the one that violated them. She was the one that called Annie Farmer's mother and said, 'Don't worry, I'll take care of her, you can let her go to the ranch.' That was where Ghislaine Maxwell was the first one to touch Annie, and then Epstein jumped in. 'She was involved in the actual molestation of these girls. She didn't just bring them to Jeffrey Epstein.' All these comments are worth remembering, going forward. Ghislaine Maxwell was not Epstein's sidekick, she was his partner, and is no less culpable. She wasn't pulled into the web of his sex trafficking scheme – if anything, she was chiefly responsible for weaving it. She should not be pitied. Or trusted. Twitter: @SamClench Originally published as 'Pure evil': Epstein survivors and their families horrified as co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell suddenly framed as a 'victim'
ABC News
3 days ago
- ABC News
Ghislaine Maxwell moved from Florida prison to lower-security facility in Texas
The US Bureau of Prisons (BOP) says Ghislaine Maxwell has been moved to a lower-security prison in Texas to continue serving her 20-year sentence for helping Jeffrey Epstein abuse underage girls. Maxwell's transfer from a Florida prison on Friday, local time, comes a week after she met with Deputy US Attorney General Todd Blanche, who said he wanted to speak with her about anyone else who may have been involved in Epstein's crimes. Maxwell's lawyer, David Markus, confirmed she was moved from FCI Tallahassee to the federal prison camp in Bryan but said he had no other comment. Spokespeople for the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Bureau of Prisons classifies camps such as Bryan as minimum-security institutions, the lowest of five security levels in the federal system. Such facilities have limited or no perimeter fencing. Low-security facilities such as FCI Tallahassee have double-fenced perimeters and higher staff-to-inmate ratios than camps, according to the bureau. Asked why Maxwell was transferred, BOP spokesperson Donald Murphy said he could not comment on the specifics of any incarcerated individual's prison assignment. He said the BOP determines where inmates are sent based on factors including "the level of security and supervision the inmate requires". Mr Blanche's meeting with Maxwell came as President Donald Trump faces pressure from conservative supporters and congressional Democrats to release more information from the Department of Justice's investigations of Maxwell and Epstein. The department is seeking court approval to release transcripts of law enforcement officers' testimony before the grand juries that indicted Maxwell and Epstein. Such transcripts are usually kept secret. Two federal judges in Manhattan are weighing the government's requests. Lawyers for Maxwell, Epstein, and their alleged victims are due to share their positions on the potential unsealing with the judges in filings on Tuesday. Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He had pleaded not guilty. Neither Mr Markus nor Mr Blanche has provided detailed accounts of what they discussed. Mr Markus has said Maxwell would welcome relief from Mr Trump, who has said he had not thought about whether to pardon her. Maxwell was found guilty at a 2021 trial of recruiting and grooming girls for Epstein to abuse. She had pleaded not guilty and is asking the US Supreme Court to overturn her conviction. ABC/Reuters
