Trump’s Defense Attorney Todd Blanche Will Meet with Sex Trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell to Make a Deal for His Client

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Trump Defense Attorney Todd Blanche and Pam Bondi just announced that Blanche will meet with Ghislaine Maxwell and discuss potential cooperation deals with her.

Statement from @DAGToddBlanche: This Department of Justice does not shy away from uncomfortable truths, nor from the responsibility to pursue justice wherever the facts may lead.  The joint statement by the DOJ and FBI of July 6 remains as accurate today as it was when it was written.  Namely, that in the recent thorough review of the files maintained by the FBI in the Epstein case, no evidence was uncovered that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.  President Trump has told us to release all credible evidence. If Ghislane Maxwell has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the DOJ will hear what she has to say.   Therefore, at the direction of Attorney General Bondi, I have communicated with counsel for Ms. Maxwell to determine whether she would be willing to speak with prosecutors from the Department.  I anticipate meeting with Ms. Maxwell in the coming days.  Until now, no administration on behalf of the Department had inquired about her willingness to meet with the government.  That changes now.

Justice demands courage. For the first time, the Department of Justice is reaching out to Ghislaine Maxwell to ask: what do you know? At @AGPamBondi’s direction, I’ve contacted her counsel. I intend to meet with her soon. No one is above the law—and no lead is off-limits.

So here’s what happened.

Maxwell delayed her appeal to SCOTUS until after the inauguration. Trump’s DOJ twice delayed the decision whether they were going to defend the appeal, finally filing their response on Monday.

That day, Maxwell’s defense attorney, David Markus, insinuated that Trump was reneging on a deal.

In a statement Monday, an attorney for Maxwell hinted at the swirling controversy surrounding the Trump administration’s decision not to release any further records related to investigations of Epstein.

“I’d be surprised if President Trump knew his lawyers were asking the Supreme Court to let the government break a deal. He’s the ultimate dealmaker—and I’m sure he’d agree that when the United States gives its word, it should keep it. With all the talk about who’s being prosecuted and who isn’t, it’s especially unfair that Ghislaine Maxwell remains in prison based on a promise the government made and broke,” wrote David Oscar Markus.

The next day, Tuesday, WSJ moved forward with a story implicating Trump in “daily secrets” with Jeffrey Epstein.

The following day, Wednesday, Pam Bondi fired Maurene Comey, the prosecutor who would be competent to assess any cooperation offered from Maxwell.

Friday, in a false show of transparency, Todd Blanche (filing under his defense attorney identity) moved to unseal grand jury transcripts that DOJ has in a form it could release immediately.

Meanwhile, Trump’s DNI Tulsi Gabbard created a false diversion to distract his rubes.

Yesterday, the Speaker of the House ceded his majority for a week to give Trump “space” to cover up his pedophile problem.

My belief is we need the administration to have the space to do what it is doing,

And today, Trump’s Defense Attorney Todd Blanche announces he will meet with Maxwell soon to make the kind of deal that could excuse releasing her early. Probably, he’ll ask her to implicate someone like Bill Clinton.

Absent that deal, it seems clear, the WSJ will continue to publish stories implicating the President in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking.

Update: Markus, in his Tweet about the deal, does Trump a real solid by suggesting Trump is taking action to “uncover the truth.”

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.” David Oscar Markus We have no other comment at this time.

Update: Oversight just agreed to subpoena Maxwell for a deposition in a voice vote. This could complicate Blanche’s plans.

Timeline:

February 16, 2017: Alex Acosta nominated Secretary of Labor.

July 2, 2019: Jeffrey Epstein indicted.

July 12, 2019: Alex Acosta resigns.

August 10, 2019: Epstein dies by suicide.

June 20, 2020: Geoffrey Berman fired.

June 29, 2020: Ghislaine Maxwell indicted.

March 29, 2021: Superseding indictment.

November 16, 2021: Jury selection begins.

December 29, 2021: Maxwell convicted on 5 of 6 counts.

February 28, 2023: Maxwell appeals.

September 17, 2024: Second Circuit rejects appeal.

January 15, 2025: Maxwell delays appeal.

February 10, 2025: Dan Bongino promises he’ll never let Epstein story go.

February 21, 2025: Pam Bondi claims Epstein client list is on her desk.

February 27, 2025: Bondi orchestrates re-release of previously released Epstein files.

March 4, 2025: James Dennehy forced to retire.

March 14, 2025: Pam Bondi conducts emergency review of Epstein and Maxwell documents.

April 10, 2025: Maxwell files cert petition.

April 25, 2025: Virginia Giuffre dies by suicide.

May 7, 2025: John Sauer delays response; Bondi claims there are thousands of videos.

May 18, 2025: Kash Patel and Dan Bongino affirm that Epstein killed himself.

May 22, 2025: Epstein prison video created.

June 6, 2025: John Sauer delays response.

July 7, 2025: Pam Bondi claims there’s no there there.

July 8, 2025: Trump loses it over questions about Epstein.

July 12, 2025: Trump attempts to claim Epstein is a Democratic plot.

July 14, 2025: DOJ defends Maxwell prosecution; David Markus suggests Trump is reneging on a deal.

July 15, 2025: WSJ interviews Trump about Epstein book.

July 16, 2025: Pam Bondi fires Maurene Comey, on Trump’s personal authority.

July 17, 2025: Trump yells at supporters who won’t move on from Epstein. WSJ publishes story.

July 18, 2025: Todd Blanche files to unseal grand jury materials; Trump sues WSJ.

July 21, 2025: Mike Johnson dodges week of work to give Trump “space” to fix his Epstein problem.

July 22, 2025: Blanche announces he’ll meet with Maxwell; Oversight votes to subpoena Maxwell for deposition.

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129 replies
    • xyxyxyxy says:

      No way will Comey speak freely.
      She knows they’ll throw the book at her faster than anyone can run or fly.

      • john paul jones says:

        Not certain, but I believe as a prosecutor, she has an affirmative duty not to talk about her cases in public, and if she does – as in writing a book, as Berman did – DOJ has to vet the publication.

        • xyxyxyxy says:

          “I believe as a prosecutor, she has an affirmative duty not to talk about her cases in public”
          Are you implying that Habba, Bondi, etc. did something ethically wrong and/or illegal when they spoke of the Baraka, McIver, Abrego Garcia, Dugan cases?

      • Rayne says:

        I think you want to double check your spelling. Also a link to sources about the alleged code would be nice; I don’t want this site to be referred to as the source of that coded language when it’s from someplace else.

        UPDATE 8:47 PM ET —

        JESUS CHRIST, PEOPLE, PAY ATTENTION. “Gamines” is seven letters and the plural version of the noun, while “enigma” is six letters. Gamines is NOT an anagram for enigma while singular “gamine” is.

        Secondly, I DON’T NEED A DEFINITION OF GAMINE/S OR ENIGMA. I’m perfectly capable of using a dictionary.

        What I meant by asking for a source: who said enigma is code for gamine? Who said it’s pedophile’s code? CITE THAT SOURCE, don’t derail this thread with a definition.

        Those of you who replied are regulars and should know better. Now DO BETTER. The original commenter needs to up their game and you folks need to read more carefully.

        • BRUCE F COLE says:

          Likely source:
          https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/enigmas-never-age-was-trump-s-alleged-note-to-epstein-hiding-an-anagram-for-gamines/ar-AA1IRRth

          It actually makes sense, but is only conjecture.

          [Moderator’s note. Please use the SAME EMAIL ADDRESS each time you comment so that community members get to know you. You attempted to publish this comment with an extra letter in your email address — “s” — triggering auto-moderation; it has been edited to reflect your established address. Please check your browser’s cache and autofill; future comments may not publish if username does not match. /~Rayne]

        • BRUCE F COLE says:

          …and the writer of that Boing Boing post (in a comment I made above this one, but which is in moderation) is a Randian. Maybe he can team up with MTG!

          Speaking of which (that is, fascists attacking Trump, not MTG): if Vance is in the bag with Murdoch’s pedo-wrestling of Trump into inglorious ignominy, Then there will def be a schism between the Opus Dei and Born Again contingents of the Trump coalition — as Trump is the only glue holding them together).

          Maybe then the Rapturists can be seen as the most serious threat to human civilization currently walking the planet, with one of their prelates cheerleading actual Armageddon:
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZdG3yBx7NQ

          It’s the theocracy, stupid.

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        • Owlmirror says:

          I don’t think a quibble about the plural form changes anything.

          Unfortunately, the only source I’ve seen for this is followups to Bluesky posts about the letter. If “enigma” is or was ever used by anyone else, no-one has come forth to say so.

          Still, it would be an interesting question to put to Maxwell, or for that matter, anyone else connected to Epstein and Trump in the relevant time period:

          Are you aware of Epstein and/or Trump using “enigma(s)” as an anagram coded reference to “gamine(s)” ; young girls? Was “secret” a coded synonym for “enigma” and therefore again to “gamine”?

        • Matt___B says:

          Re: Owlmirror @ 5:31

          “Gamines” refers to something more specific than just “young girls”. It refers to girls who are “slender, small-statured with a boyish or androgynous look” (source: Google)

        • Owlmirror says:

          Different dictionaries give somewhat different definitions; what those definitions have in common is “young girl”. There term comes from French. It’s the feminine of gamin; a young boy.

          I see that Wikipedia has an article which has a huge list of actresses and models and such, who were referenced as being “gamine” in English, with the varying additional subtle connotations that the term has .

          Are the specific connotations relevant to the term’s putative use by Trump?

        • earlofhuntingdon says:

          Gamine, a waif, as in the Parisian Sparrow, singer Edith Piaf or actress, Audrey Tautou. Refers to the slight appearance and energetic, bubbly personality. Sexual availability not relevant.

        • P J Evans says:

          It’s another distraction with zero substance.

          [Moderator’s note: and I’m going to start spiking comments that don’t hew closely to the subject of posts. I have enough housekeeping to do here without having to deal with distracting comments void of adequate supporting material. /~Rayne]

      • Palli Davis Holubar says:

        gamines, noun
        An often homeless girl who roams about the streets; an urchin.
        A petite, charming girl or woman, especially one with a playful demeanor.
        A female street urchin.
        Sounds right

  2. Terry Salad says:

    I am certain whatever “evidence” that comes of this will implicate anyone but Trump. We are watching them cover it all up in real time.

  3. zscoreUSA says:

    Thanks for laying this all out. Yeah, it looks like he’s going to give Maxwell a deal if she can give something “credible”, code word for red meat for his base.

      • RealAlexi says:

        Oh boy. I’ve been hearing the echoes of Iran/Contra since Trump’s first admin. In a bad way. It’s how Bill Barr got the nickname The Coverup General. The entire fiasco should have resulted in Reagan’s impeachment and a whole lot of jailtime for a number of folks.

        The big problem you’ve got is any reliance on claims by Ari Ben-Menashe who is nearly always up to no good. His claims that HWB was in Paris for the October surprise? A total fabrication. His lobbying for just terrible people? Documented. Nothing he says be trusted.

        The Right wing conspiracy theorists and the Left are now echoing eachother. Zev is now regurgitating the same stuff as Candice Owens and Tucker Carlson. It’s not nearly identical. It’s specifically identical and RT (those truth tellers in the Kremlin) have a video of Ben-Menashe circulating on Xitter.

        https://www.rt.com/shows/going-underground/493131-epstein-blackmailed-politicians-mossad-connection/

        I said something about memes in another response to a post of yours and I should clarify that I mean memes as ideas the way Richard Dawkins speaks of them. They are made and they replicate from human to human to human. You’re watching the birth, or resurgence of one now.

        I reply to your posts because I love the fact you’re digging for the truth and I don’t want you digging in a minefield. It’s dangerous.

        Check sources for veracity. Check your sources sources for veracity because they may or may not have. If someone’s telling a juicy secret and they’ve got something to gain (money, ratings, audience approval, anything), and it’s really really juicy… it’s probably bs. Always double check and don’t be lazy when it fits a preferred or an easy narrative.

        PS. Ben-Menashe worked for AMAN (Military intelligence) and is claiming he knows inside stuff about highly secretive Mossad (a completely different agency that’d be walled off to everyone) plots or operatives he’s full of it.

        Final point. Israel has always had to be America’s b*tch in the middle east… or else. Which is one, albeit very small, reason Iran/Contra still has me steamed.

        Anyway, keep digging.

        • zscoreUSA says:

          Can you please provide evidence “Zev is now regurgitating the same stuff as Candice Owens and Tucker Carlson”? You really believe Candice Owens is writing a report about Trump and Epstein and Robert Maxwell and Adnan Khashoggi and Tower Financial?

          Narativ has been reporting on this since July 2019. He was the the first to report Epstein as an Israeli intelligence asset. And yes, Ben-Menashe should be taken with a grain of salt.

          But your reasoning is 1) The October Surprise and 2) terrible clients and 3) knowing inside Mossad stuff

          1) Ken Klippenstein says the same thing… but… having read Craig Unger’s 2024 book Den of Spies, I believe the October Surprise is real. Unger was told in 1993 to stop pursuing the story if he wants a career in journalism, but he stuck with the story and reported receipts. Literal arms receipts. [I recommend people to read this book]

          2) so? I weigh the information against the facts and other information provided

          3) care to provide an example

          The October Surprise and Iran Arms-for-hostages/Iran Contra are very relevant today, I have been catching up. There is even a whole Wikipedia on Israel to Iran arms during the Iran-Iraq War, which overlaps both October Surprise and Iran-Contra.
          https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_support_for_Iran_during_the_Iran%E2%80%93Iraq_war

        • zscoreUSA says:

          It’s interesting material in itself but also I’m digging because there appears to be a right wing propaganda effort to use Iran Contra to get rid of Trump’s Epstein problem.

          Also noting that Laura Loomer has been trashing Bondi over how she conducted the propaganda campaign. Almost as if Bondi failed to pick up on a cue how she was supposed to go about such.

        • Troutwaxer says:

          Note the following from the article linked above “The British media mogul coordinated intelligence operations for Israel’s IDF, Soviet KGB, and British MI6.”

          Really? All three of them? At once? Did he also juggle half-a-dozen chainsaws with one hand tied behind his back?

          Who the fuck believes this stuff???

        • zscoreUSA says:

          Reply to Troutwaxer:

          The source for that would be the book Robert Maxwell Super Spy.

          Yes I believe that. There were several Israeli intelligence officials attending Maxwell’s funeral, despite him just being a British publisher.

          Through his publishing scientific journals, he was able to get access to the Soviet Union. He was able to sell pirated PROMIS software to Sandia nuclear lab in New Mexico. He was a business partner with Semion Mogilevic and had access behind the Iron Curtain.

          Yes, I believe Ghislaine Maxwell’s dad was one of the biggest spies in history.

          https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780786710782

  4. Amateur Lawyer At Work says:

    Laid out like this, it looks like Trump’s DoJ violated the Prisoner’s Dilemma by announcing it was violating the Prisoner’s Dilemma. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_dilemma
    In response, Maxwell made some noise by proxy in WSJ.
    Trump realized he was in trouble, but isn’t he caught in a trap of his own making? If he drops the appeal, he’s an elitist Deep State liberal elite cabal member protecting other pedophiles. If he doesn’t drop the appeal, more stories get written. If he accepts her “plea offer” he needs to come up with names, trials, and convictions, or he’s again an elitist Deep State liberal elite cabal member protecting other pedophiles because he let her go AND failed to use anything she gave.
    And that’s to say nothing about the 1000 FBI personnel, Maurene Comey, and others that could be waiting in the weeds.
    So this resembles more and bad flailing.

    Or am I missing anything?

    • Peterr says:

      The DOJ paperwork.

      Trump may proudly not use email, but every one else in the government does. Trump may not like things written down, but the DOJ lives by its documents.

      Whatever Trump decides to do, it cannot conflict with the written records at DOJ — which brings us back to Marurene Comey et al. — and Murdoch’s empire knows this.

      As part of the WSJ reporters prepping to run their article, I suspect the WSJ lawyers were simultaneously prepping their legal strategy for the inevitable lawsuit from Trump. Central to that would be preparing a list of discovery questions for Trump and documents to be produced. Anyone who has watched Trump providing a deposition knows he is . . . not good at it. Additional depositions with folks like M Comey would be hugely important in highlighting the documentary trail.

      Conflicts between Trump’s answers and DOJ records will be legion.

      • Master Slacker says:

        Trump will never make it to discovery. It make take starting WW III but everyone knows that giving Trump an open mic would be hanging his ass in the wind.

      • Ramona Rosario says:

        How long would you estimate it would take WSJ to vet the birthday letter story?

        I ask because according to the timeline, DOJ told SCOTUS it would oppose Maxwell’s appeal for retrial on July 14 and WSJ asked Trump about the letter to Epstein the next day and published their report two days after that.

        If Maxwell were the person who alerted WSJ to the existence of the letter, then how long before DOJ announced their opposition to her petition did she know they were going to take that tack and how much time did that give the WSJ reporters to vet the story?

        • Amateur Lawyer At Work says:

          Good question! But I don’t think it’d take that long.

          Pre-existing connection between WSJ and her appeal attorneys, who are not under a protective order BUT who do have attorney-client privilege. WSJ counsel would have pre-vetted that aspect. From there, it’d be a simple thing to arrange a “If DoJ does X, bury Trump using A, B, and C.” Maxwell, for all we know, also has the book or copies of it, and arranged for her lawyers to obtain a copy.

        • Peterr says:

          Maxwell can also testify to “chain of custody” of the letters she requested, the letters she collected, and the letters finally included in the book.

  5. Upisdown says:

    It would be a sin if Trump lets Maxwell off the hook to save himself and others from accountability. But sin is Donald Trump’s stock-in-trade.

  6. Cannon_22JUL2025_1027h says:

    Isn’t it obvious? Maxwell is Mossad, just like her dad. She’ll say whatever Bibi wants. Bibi wants Trump to stay in office because Trump won’t interfere with his genocidal plans. So Maxwell will provide “evidence” against Clinton, Obama, Biden, whomever. We will also see “evidence” from unnamed witnesses. (As ever, Dems will fall into “Me Too” self-lacerations.) Perhaps “evidence” will be attributed to the conveniently-dead Virginia Roberts.

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  7. xyxyxyxy says:

    She needs to ask him to drink the water from the bottle he hands her before she does, and even then not to drink it.
    As I posted yesterday, Michael Cohen interviews Michael Wolff about Trump and Epstein, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEKwgDjIPcQ
    Some stuff there with Maxwell as well including her being out of the picture when some of the crimes were taking place.

    • john paul jones says:

      Noted also that Wolff describes Polaroids he has seen of Trump sitting around the pool at Epstein’s house with half-clad girls on his lap, and one nastier Polaroid which I won’t describe. Wolff says that since the FBI emptied the safe in which Epstein kept these Polaroids as part of its investigation, said photos ought to be in the “Epstein files.” Q is: Is Wolff a credible witness? He seemed so, as he spoke, I mean.

    • Marc in Denver says:

      She wouldn’t be the second person involved in the Epstein affair to end up hanged in a cell. See Jean-Luc Brunel.

  8. amy I zuckerman says:

    Great story and great analysis.

    I wrote my first news story in 1974 and went on to cover politics from Massachusetts to Washington and DC and was credited for assisting global industry and the U.S. to shut down a trade war with Europe.

    I have told everyone that what goes up will come down eventually. And I advised many politicians to NEVER LIE if they didn’t want to eat their words. Or at least release some of the truth.

    Because he basically controls Fox News news coverage and has pitiful Supreme Court justices doing his bidding — including handing him near carte blanche to do illegal things — he now has no guardrails against his insane acts. I add using Attorney General Pam Bondi as his personal lawyer. What a fool she is. She ought to read the story of George Mitchell who ended up in jail for his role of helping Nixon suppress the Watergate misdeeds.

    So it is wonderful to watch all of them hoisting themselves on their own pitard. It’s a classic case of people grabbing onto a politician to boost their career and fill their coffers. They will all come down some day, and hopefully sooner than later.

    Nothing is more indicative of Trump’s foolish acts than a MAGA man weeping on CNN about how Trump betrayed the movement. Nothing like calling your base stupid. Is Trump suffering from mini strokes? The impact of these small capillary break is to affect the right frontal lobe that controls behavior. Mini stroke victims are prone to rages and strange behavior?
    Sound familiar.

    Now, do NOT BELIEVE that Trump’s vascular problem is no big deal. He could suffer a heart attack from a clot at any time and a possible stroke. Imagine a stroke that turns him into a vegetable. Could happen. What will happen to his felon staffers then?

    If I was any of them I would quit their posts ASAP and say they were only following orders a la top Nazis.

    So stay tuned to the Donald Trump show.. Maxwell will be his undoing.

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  9. James Schuyler says:

    I assume if she had real information that could lead to conviction, she would have played that card already for a plea deal.

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    • earlofhuntingdon says:

      Ghislaine Maxwell was principal aide to and procuresse for a famously corrupt man, running an *illegal* global business, providing underage and other sex partners for some of the world’s wealthiest, most powerful men. And that may have just been his day job.

      It seems unlikely Maxwell ever intended to share career and potentially life-threatening dope about those men to stay out of prison. It might not have benefited her for very long.

      But with Trump in office, the playing field for Maxwell is different. She can get out of prison by *not* disclosing some of what she knows, and by implicating, at least by exaggeration, some of Trump’s enemies, which are legion.

  10. Ned Hamson says:

    This move by Trump’s attorney is sort of like watching a second rate knockoff of one of the Godfather films. Makes me wonder about what kind of ‘deal’ will be offered to Maxwell.

  11. Matt Foley says:

    Dr. Wheeler, you are the best!

    As Three Shirt Steve taught us, “Ignore the noise and watch the signal.”

  12. Savage Librarian says:

    Scrub-a-dub-dub,
    The tools in the club,
    Who do you think they be?
    The dodger, the faker,
    The scandal schtick maker,
    All with the interviewee.

    • BRUCE F COLE says:

      Brilliant, especially since the origin of that (modern) nursery rhyme had it as “three maids in a tub,” and was meant as a scold against the three tradesmen ogling them in a peep-show at a carnival.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rub-a-dub-dub

      The voyeurs then got put in the tub themselves when it was converted to a kids’ nursery rhyme some time in the 19th century, since three maids in a tub conjures sex rather than slapstick, and that won’t do for the tykes.

      With that in mind, the original version fits well with the video of Trump, Epstein and the other guy ogling the dancing girls and making lewd comments to each other.

  13. Joe Orton says:

    I’m no expert but it’s looking a lot like a conspiracy to me. And conspiracy is the bone to the QAnon dog. Hopefully QAnon will be true to their stated desire of getting the Epstein co-conspirators out in the public daylight despite one of the being Trump. I could be wrong but I don’t remember the QAnons being too deep in the Christian Nationalist camp so they could absorb Trump into their anti-Epstein crusade. Fingers crossed!!

    • Rayne says:

      I’ve been wondering if an alternative QAnon persona dropping content from Marcy’s posts would feed that dog.

        • SATmanJack says:

          Let’s hope “she” has more time than I do for social media safaris.
          Age has its limitations. Every day I wake up recalling the carrier skipper’s line in the original Top Gun: “You’re ego’s writing checks your body can’t cash.”

  14. Frank Anon says:

    So Ghislaine told someone on the outside to go to her stash and fish out that book she made for Epstein and show it to the WSJ as a warning shot that she had so much more on the boss. His consigliere agrees to meet Ghislaine inside the joint – in private, no witnesses – to show the boss could make her life real nice if she laid the rap on the big boys in Democratic gang instead, and maybe give them the “gun” so they could throw it in the East River or melt it down or something. It writes itself, but its kind of stupid and derivative and won’t play well because it has a bunch of plot holes. Nonetheless, it seems like that’s what the Trump people are going for. And one last thing – if Johnson is shutting down the House, and Blanche is making the deal, and Bondi, Gabbard, Patel and the rest are all on full-time damage control, do you think they could know what the ultimate secret they are trying to hide might be? Because someone calling the game plan does know, someone blabbing is inevitable and that is usually how the mob story ends

    • Ms. Dalloway says:

      No, I’d bet none of them know exactly what Trump is so desperate to hide — only that it’s very, very bad. He’d never tell them explicitly, just like he never gives explicit orders to break the law but only muses about someone “ridding me of this meddlesome priest.” Why? For exactly the reason you give, that someone blabbing is inevitable. The problem for him here is that there might be (lordy!) tapes, hard evidence that Trump may have raped that 13 year-old, the only thing I can think of that would make him freak out the way he has.

      • Palli Davis Holubar says:

        Rapes, plural.
        Judging by his disregard for the significance of his felony sexual assault, what is hidden is probably considerably worse.

      • Troutwaxer says:

        This is just speculation, (note that I am labeling it as such) but what if Putin’s “pee tapes” are actually Epstein tapes? Or something like that?

    • earlofhuntingdon says:

      Trump hires followers. They don’t need to know why they’re doing something, only that their job and status as an inner-circle follower are at risk if they don’t do it. A few people would know, but very few, because that knowledge likely implicates them in crimes.

      Epstein might have kept a little black book or two with the details he most wanted ready access to. But most records Epstein and/or Maxwell created to manage the complex networks of their business – and there should be more than one copy – are unlikely to be in that form. The records for one Epstein bank account alone showed more than a billion in transactions over the space of a few years.

  15. Capemaydave says:

    To the extent Maxwell is an accomplished blackmailer, as many allege, I don’t see how she is allowed to go free.

    Once she leaves the US she owns everyone she has evidence on, including POTUS.

    I also suspect her associates have been given orders to release info if something happens to her.

    It’s a conundrum.

  16. Bay State Librul says:

    I think we have to be honest here.
    Trump will pardon Maxwell.
    He has nothing to lose.
    The Dems are checkmated.
    Lies will prevail.
    Fox News will propagandize.
    The coverup will be covered up

    • Rayne says:

      Knock off this bullshit demoralization. It’s not honesty, it’s trash. You can’t even offer any supporting documentation to bolster your crap, nor any assessment of what will happen afterward if Trump pardons Maxwell.

      • Capemaydave says:

        Yes.

        The status quo of her in prison hoping for a pardon kept her silent – the perfect stable state but only for so long.

        Once that memo came out from the DoJ/FBI this thing spiraled out of control and it remains thus.

        As you say, what happens if she gets a pardon? The nation goes nuts.

        If she gets Epstein-ed?

        If she goes to Congress and implicates people who are not Trump?

        There are no solutions here.

        Just disasters everyone one turns.

        • Troutwaxer says:

          When history gets written, Trump not quietly ignoring Maxwell as the Epstein stuff heated up may be seen as one of his greatest mistakes. Wouldn’t he be in much better shape if he’d just shut up and let her be prosecuted?

      • Frank Anon says:

        Its impossible to conceive how Trump keeps MAGA if he pardons Maxwell, because its impossible to conceive it is anything other than an attempt to buy her silence, which will instantly become a parlor game of how bad it might actually be and fodder for the creative Q minds. To me the real question is what does he do instead, and how he keeps her from repeating the media feeding with other, more salacious stuff. I also think getting out of prison is the only thing that Maxwell cares about, and I’d imagine she’d play any game offered to her if she did. Its a real conundrum, and not at all as gruesome as mentioned above

        • wa_rickf says:

          Trump’s base has already contorted themselves into preztels in supporting Trump. All Maxwell has to say is that Trump was not involved in any of the nefarious stuff and that’s good enough for the base, even with the pardon.

      • Bill Crowder says:

        I think it is possible (and necessary) to be both cynical and to keep pushing forward.

        An existential view.

      • RealAlexi says:

        It’s very demoralizing. But they literally got away with an insurrection. People died. The culprits, deemed terrorists by the GOP themselves, are free and Ashley Babbit became a martyr for the cause.

        My fear is that we’re partially depending on the MAGA and the Q-tards to be up in arms when/if Ghislane clears Trump and he then commutes her sentence to something even short of a pardon like home confinement.

        I still can’t believe they re-elcted him. He crashed the economy, his handling of Covid was criminal, he’s a literal felon and adjudicated rapist, he’s now got secret police on the streets etc.

        We’re here depending on MAGA and Qanon to police him over Epstein. We’re in a bad place. Just scary.

        • readerOfTeaLeaves says:

          If you look at a US map of the 2024 US presidential election outcomes, it ‘seems as if’ the GOP dominated and Trump is infallible:
          https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-ELECTION/RESULTS/zjpqnemxwvx/president/

          However, if you look at the actual vote totals and then add in the number of people who did not vote , you get more clarity. Trump won because a whole lot of people did *not* vote; in some states almost half the voters did not vote:

          In the 2024 election, two states have had more than three-quarters of their eligible voting population cast a ballot so far, according to the Election Lab’s 2024 data. They are Minnesota (76.41%) and Wisconsin (76.37%), who had the highest rates of voter turnout among the states

          In contrast, Arkansas (53.47%), Hawaii (50.27%) and Oklahoma (53.28%) have had just over half of their voting-eligible population participate in the 2024 election so far – the lowest turnout rates in the U.S.

          https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2024-11-15/how-many-people-didnt-vote-in-the-2024-election

          Trump was barely elected, and it took crypto interests and bro podcasts to get him over the edge. Convenient shorthand:
          77 million voted Harris
          79 million voted Trump
          **89 million did not vote**

          If it was an article of faith among Trump’s strongest MAGA supporters that he was going to expose a ‘pedo ring’, then Maxwell is the last person on earth that Trump can afford to pardon, particularly given the vast number of people who did not vote in 2024, but who remain potential voters in 2026.

          Trump is in such big trouble that House Speaker Mike Johnson (LA) took early vacation, rather than risk any more votes involving Epstein.

          There are no good options here for Trump.
          His already-thin electoral map is shredding, and Congress has turned tail like a pack of prairie dogs desperately tunneling to avoid the shadows of hawks.

          Meanwhile, the shadowy figures of Murdock and JD Vance/Peter Thiel/Elon appear to be circling, very high and very quietly.
          Interesting times, indeed.

        • Rayne says:

          Reply to readerOfTeaLeaves
          July 22, 2025 at 7:36 pm

          This is the stuff. It’s so good I’m going to refer to it in a post this week. We wouldn’t be in this mess — led by a convict who consorted with a pedophile and then weaponized the DOJ for personal reasons — if left-of-center and Never-Trumpers had been able to turn out 10 percent of those non-voters to vote for Harris-Walz.

        • Rayne says:

          Reply to RealAlexi
          July 22, 2025 at 6:28 pm

          Just stop. You are fucking amplifying the demoralization by repeating it in longer form.

          We need more discussion which shares and analyzes new material, not more comments dumping feelings. Take that to a microblog like Bluesky/Threads/Mastodon.

    • Alan Charbonneau says:

      Maybe, but Trump has sued Rupert for $10 billion and Murdoch could easily retaliate. Getting a sane JD Vance for a demented Trump might be a good deal in his mind.

      Even if Murdoch remains on Trump’s side, with 1,000 new witnesses to the Epstein file contents, there might be information that comes out even he can’t counter.

      As an aside, I hope that as part of that FBI review, someone has compiled a log of document ID #’s and page #’s have Trump’s name on them and that’s made public — it’d be like someone doing the prosecutor’s job for them.

    • CitizenSane77 says:

      Disregarding the pessimism, if Trump actually pardoned Maxwell the MAGA base would likely view this as a vile injustice and further protection of child sexual abusers. Nothing Maxwell reveals (not to be trusted at all as she’s a proven liar) would likely justify her release.

      Maga would also view this as furtherance of the coverup.

      • Rayne says:

        And Democrats should be leaning HARD into getting more answers out of Maxwell through a Congressional hearing BEFORE she is given any concessions — not sitting around whining and discouraging others.

        • readerOfTeaLeaves says:

          Amen.
          Start with finance nerd Ron Wyden’s investigation into Epstein’s money, and only after that point should Maxwell be called.

  17. earlofhuntingdon says:

    Markus, in his Tweet about the deal, does Trump a real solid by suggesting Trump is taking action to “uncover the truth.”

    Since Donald Trump has a tenuous grasp of reality and truth, and never seeks to reveal truth, unless it’s part of a deal to benefit him, we can be sure that Markus is buttering up his negotiating opponent, rather than revealing any truth himself.

    • Wild Bill 99 says:

      What a steaming pile of excrement is transparent Todd Blanche, the righteous pursuer of justice and truth. And Markus’s claim to believe Trump wouldn’t support reneging on a deal should have been an entry in the Sunday comics. It is hard to believe this is even performance art since why would one waste the effort on an audience foolish enough to believe this guff. Most likely divert and delay.

      • P J Evans says:

        Trump has reneged on deals in the past, but MAGAs find excuses for why doing it was good.

  18. wa_rickf says:

    Bondi and Blanche want Maxwell to say Trump wasn’t involved in any of it. That is the entirety of the motive here. Bondi will probably dangle a pardon if Maxwell is willing to lie and say Trump wasn’t involved.

    • Joe Orton says:

      If Maxwell says Trump wasn’t involved then she’s admitting there was something to be involved in. She and Epstein have denied any abuse of underage girls. And then if Trump pardons her? He is pardoning a pedophile. The QAnons are not going to see this as a non-conspiracy.

    • Error Prone says:

      Why a pardon? They can simply say no contest to the appeal that the deal cut in Florida involving Acosta covered Epstein associates, and that’s Maxwell. The new IRS guy cut his deal with those suing over pulpit endorsements, and Blanche/Bondi can as well compromise Maxwell’s situation in a similar fashion.

  19. Eichhörnchen says:

    July 21, 2025: Mike Johnson dodges week of work to give Trump “space” to fix his Epstein problem.

    July 22, 2025: Blanche announces he’ll meet with Maxwell; Oversight votes to subpoena Maxwell for deposition.

    Any MAGAt who accepts Maxwell’s testimony before Congress after she’s made a deal with Trump’s DOJ is just a MAGAtINO – MAGAt in name only.

  20. silcominc says:

    I fear for Maxwell’s life. Having Blanche visit is way too similar to Bill Barr’s infamous Epstein visit.

  21. OldTulsaDude says:

    D. C. is starting to smell like fear and anger, like Rome did just before Mussolini came to the end of his power.

  22. CitizenSane77 says:

    Why would anyone trust Maxwell, especially if a plea deal is dangled in front of her? Unless she can provide proof, or the DOJ has files (that they could just release without needing Maxwell’s testimony) that could corroborate whatever she reveals, it likely won’t be legally prosecutable or trusted by either side.

    This is pointless.

    • earlofhuntingdon says:

      Is it really?

      Context heavily influences credibility, as do the purposes to which you seek to put her testimony. There are a lot of those that don’t require credibility sufficient to convict beyond a reasonable doubt.

      • CitizenSane77 says:

        I’m not suggesting it’s pointless for all cases to get a criminal to testify in return for a plea deal. But in Maxwell’s context I can’t see any reason why this wouldn’t have been an option during her trial.

        I admit I’m no legal expert and ignorant to the full Epstein/Maxwell history.

        • earlofhuntingdon says:

          The bulk of the work on Maxwell’s trial was done during the first Trump administration, when the firewall between the WH and DoJ was still relatively intact. Her trial and conviction was finally held Nov.-Dec. 2021.

          More generally, prosecutors keep charges and revealed information as simple and clean as possible, to make it easier for the jury to take in the information and reach a conclusion.

      • CitizenSane77 says:

        Ryan Goodman also tweeted this from Maxwell’s case file from 2020:

        Ghislaine Maxwell’s “willingness to brazenly lie under oath about her conduct … strongly suggests her true motive has been and remains to avoid being held accountable for her crimes.”

        “her willingness to flout the law in order to protect herself.”

        And she was also charged with perjury. Again, I just don’t see why she should be trusted in this context.

  23. RitaRita says:

    I’d throw Bill Barr’s appointment as Attorney General i n Feb. 2019 into the timeline. Barr was the Fixer and Clean Up expert. He not only helped Rod Rosenstein to “land the plane” for Trump in the Mueller investigation but also served while Epstein was indicted again. And he investigated the “suicide”.

    What did Trump know about Epstein’s pedophilia, sex trafficking, and sexual abuse and when did he know it? In his recent mutterings Trump notes that Epstein was no longer welcome at Mar a Lago after a member complained. Most news reports say that the friendship terminated when Trump outbid Epstein on the Palm Beach property later sold to Russian oligarch Rybolviev.

    It is difficult but not impossible to believe that, at a minimum, Trump knew what Epstein and Maxwell were doing. How many kids could have been saved from those predators if Trump, Dershowitz, or others had intervened?

    Given what we already know about Trump’s sexual predations and the fact that he partied with Epstein, it is difficult not to believe that there is more than just failure to notify authorities. But that failure is bad enough.

  24. Error Prone says:

    Wyden gave a floor speech implicating Russian banking “multiple Russian banks now under sanctions” in Epstein’s money trail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7IrEi-ybzs

    Might evidence be at the National Archives, from during the Biden Adminstration, on file which cannot be undone, absent Archive participation?

  25. Error Prone says:

    After meeting Blanche, might Maxwell’s story hinge upon defective memory, of the “not that I can recall” sort? If she’s stashed stuff with a safe holding situation, and cuts some deal with Blanche, and somehow walks, stashed stuff could get her killed, be leverage, or let her spill the beans. My guess, stashed stuff or not, testimony will be bad memory, and then absolute silence, in exile. Why should she talk? What’s in it for her that way?

  26. Ed Walker says:

    If Maxwell appears before a House Subcommittee, Democrats will be able to ask her questions. I hope they get professional help in framing those questions rather than grandstand like some backbench Repub.

  27. Harry Eagar says:

    Interesting but I am more interested in whether the US defaults while the House is gone. Last month, that was supposed to happen by September, at latest.

    I’ve been looking around all over for a mention of that. Emptywheel’s posse was my last hope.

    • AllTheGoodIDsWereTaken says:

      Wasn’t the debt ceiling raised by $5bn as part of “that” bill (the one with the ironic name!)? Or is that not the default to which you refer?

  28. Owlmirror says:

    Maurene Comey might be fired from one branch of government, but could she be rehired by Congress, to be present during Maxwell’s interview, or to have her own separate interview?

    Regarding a pardon — isn’t Maxwell also guilty of violations of NYS or FL law, that she has not been brought to trial for? I doubt FL will charge her (*cough*Matt Gaetz*cough*), but NY might.

    • earlofhuntingdon says:

      Nothing would prohibit Congress from hiring Comey, but it would take a Democrat with a budget and the right committee assignment.

  29. Molly Pitcher says:

    Marcy, I think there is another event to be added to your timeline. Feb 19, 2022 Jean-Luc Brunel was found hanging in his cell in La Santé prison where he had been held for over a year “as he was investigated on suspicion of the rape of minors and trafficking of minors for sexual exploitation.”

    Brunel co-founded French modelling agency Karin Models in 1977, and MC2 Model Management in the US with funding from Epstein. Giuffre testified against Brunel in Paris in June 2021.

    So many suicides…….

  30. bgThenNow says:

    Mueller She Wrote had a post on Bluesky saying she has receipts on the FBI methodology and PowerPoint trainings for same in the search for Trump in the Epstein materials. It sounds like she expects more documentation.

  31. harpie says:

    I wonder WHEN in MAY 2025 this meeting took place:

    Justice Department Told Trump in May That His Name Is Among Many in the Epstein Files Bondi also told president at the meeting that Justice decided to not release more Jeffrey Epstein documents because of the presence of child pornography and the need to protect victims https://www.wsj.com/politics/justice-department-told-trump-name-in-epstein-files-727a8038 July 23, 2025 3:08 pm ET

    When Justice Department officials reviewed what Attorney General Pam Bondi called a “truckload” of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein earlier this year, they discovered that Donald Trump’s name appeared multiple times, according to senior administration officials.

    In May, Bondi and her deputy [That’s BLANCHE, right?] informed the president at a meeting in the White House that his name was in the Epstein files, the officials said. Many other high-profile figures were also named, Trump was told. Being mentioned in the records isn’t a sign of wrongdoing. […]

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