Blackmail and Brownstones: Todd Blanche Locked Ghislaine Maxwell into Her Obvious Lies

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When NYT first ran this story on August 5 — with the two earlier WSJ stories (July 17; July 24), the third story providing unprecedented details on the Epstein scandal during the period Trump has tried to bury his sex trafficking problem — I noted two things about it: The exceedingly weird treatment of Todd Blanche’s visit with Ghislaine Maxwell, in which NYT mentioned neither Blanche by name nor his title.

The White House had pledged to release details about the federal investigations into Mr. Epstein and his associates. But this summer the Trump administration backpedaled. The ensuing right-wing outrage has threatened to splinter the Make America Great Again movement — for whom Mr. Epstein is a central figure in conspiracy theories — and has put Mr. Trump on the defensive like few other issues.

Seeking to quell the backlash, the Justice Department dispatched a top official to meet with Ghislaine Maxwell, Mr. Epstein’s longtime associate who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking. On Friday, Ms. Maxwell was moved to a lower-security facility. [my emphasis]

The other remarkable aspect of the story is the absolute dearth of any source description for the photos from Jeffrey Epstein’s brownstone. None appears in the story or credited on the photos.

The refusal to provide any hints as to source carried over to the response that lead reporter David Enrich gave to a question about sourcing:

These are good questions, but I’m afraid there’s not a whole lot I can say because of the need to protect sources who provide us with information. The one thing I feel comfortable sharing is that we published this information as soon as we were able. This is not something we’ve been sitting on.

I fully recognize that it is frustrating as a reader not to have transparency about where/how journalists get information like this, but I hope you can also understand that protecting sources is paramount — people need to be able to trust that we will protect their confidentiality when they come to us with important information.

Viewed in the aftermath of the release of the Ghislaine Maxwell transcripts (July 24, July 25), however, something else sticks out.

First, there’s the number of people mentioned in the story also mentioned in Maxwell’s interview:

There are people mentioned in the story that Blanche did not ask about: Mortimer Zuckerman, Woody Allen, Steve Bannon, Mick Jagger, and Joi Ito.

But of those who are mentioned, at least the Clinton picture suggests a closer relationship between Clinton and Epstein than Maxwell described in her interview (a point made in this analysis of the transcripts).

TODD BLANCHE: Did — and you’re not, I think you said, you don’t — you’re not aware of President Clinton ever going to the island?

GHISLAINE MAXWELL: He never. Absolutely never went. And I can be sure of that because there’s no way he would’ve gone — I don’t believe there’s any way that he would’ve gone to the island, had I not been there. Because I don’t believe he had an independent friendship, if you will, with Epstein.

Did they speak? Did he go? Yes, but that’s very different from going to spend time on an island.

Most striking, however, is how the story — with its attention to the video cameras visible in two rooms — debunks Maxwell’s claim that there were no video cameras in the brownstone, that there was no wiring for such cameras, a claim that Maxwell offered up to substantiate her claim that Epstein could not blackmail anyone.

GHISLAINE MAXWELL: Right. I — I think this is a really good place to start with how this story began.

TODD BLANCHE: Okay.

GHISLAINE MAXWELL: So even, let’s assume that that premise is correct, that he was doing that and he was going to tell everybody, going to say, “oh, you know, you had inappropriate relations with an underage girl.” If you don’t have a video or photograph, photographic evidence, because I — I’m not sure that even the FBI would take that. Well, maybe today, but certainly not back then, would take that seriously.

So you have to have something to say, “Hey, you know, look, I’ve got this video of you doing terrible things and you need to.” So I built those houses, many of them. I decorated those houses. I put the electricians in for the wiring. I never wired, nor saw, a single house that had any type of inappropriate, let’s say, video surveillance.

And I’ll define that for you.

Inappropriate surveillance would mean in a bathroom, in a bedroom, in any private area of a home.

TODD BLANCHE: In a room where there were massages given?

GHISLAINE MAXWELL: Inappropriate. I would say I would define “appropriate” surveillance to be the front door of a house, or potentially, as in 71st Street, the physical plant. Anywhere else would be grotesque.

TODD BLANCHE: So I just want to come back to — I know I’m just hopefully stating the obvious, but when you say “the houses,” you’re talking about his New York —

GHISLAINE MAXWELL: Yes.

TODD BLANCHE: — brownstone?

GHISLAINE MAXWELL: Yes.

There it is in the NYT, proof plain as day, that Maxwell’s claim there were no video cameras at the brownstone is false (though as described, the cameras were only in Epstein’s private space).

Yesterday, the same day Bill Gates quietly met at the White House with Trump, we learned that Gates had defunded Arabella Foundation, and with it a number of left-leaning groups. Gates is the most prominent person reported to be blackmailed by Epstein. If the FBI collected evidence that Epstein had blackmail material on Gates, Trump would now have it.

It was quite clear from Blanche’s interview that he wasn’t interested in meeting with Trump’s sex trafficker buddy to advance any normal investigative interests. He was offering Maxwell something she wanted — a chance to damage the victims again, a chance for cozier digs — in hopes of getting dirt on Trump’s political adversaries, and he was doing so to staunch the stories focusing on Trump’s close ties to Epstein.

Todd Blanche did none of the things a competent proffer would do. He didn’t insist on dates, he didn’t test Maxwell’s answers, he appeared to work mostly from gossip. On the specific question of whether Maxwell “stole” Trump’s spa girls, which Maxwell first denied:

TODD BLANCHE: Do you know whether masseuses from Mar-a-Lago’s spa ended up giving massages to — private massages to Mr. Epstein? I’m not asking for what you may have read, but from — at the time, from your personal knowledge, do you know whether that’s true?

GHISLAINE MAXWELL: I — I don’t — I don’t recall. Is it possible? Yes. But I don’t remember — I don’t remember that. So I don’t want to — I don’t recall that, but it’s possible.

TODD BLANCHE: Do you have a recollection of you ever recruiting a masseuse from Mar-a-Lago spa to give — to go give a private massage to Mr. Epstein?

GHISLAINE MAXWELL: I’ve never recruited a masseuse from Mar-a-Lago for that, as far as I remember. I can’t ever recollect doing that.

TODD BLANCHE: Okay. So what — what I think we should do now, it’s about 12:15. We’ll take a — we’ll take a break and we will come back in a little bit.

Then, the next day, conceded could have happened but Blanche prodded her for a specific denial that Maxwell recruited Virginia Giuffre there.

GHISLAINE MAXWELL: Some more names did come to me in the night, and I did have some additional memories just for clarity. I believe I said that I couldn’t think of anybody who I may have asked from Mar-a-Lago, but then I realized that I was — the allegation at least is that I met [redacted] in Mar-a-Lago and so I felt that I needed to address that. And I didn’t want to leave that hanging because that seems weird under the circumstances.

And also — but I couldn’t remember anyone and — maybe, you know, it’s a long period of time.

So the issue is not that I’m trying to not say, but I just don’t — I don’t remember anybody that I would have. But it’s not impossible that I might have asked someone from there.

TODD BLANCHE: I don’t — I don’t know exactly what you said yesterday, but I don’t think what you said yesterday is different than what you just said. So, yes. There’s —

GHISLAINE MAXWELL: Okay. I just wanted to be — I just didn’t want to feel that I had said no to something and that it — and —

TODD BLANCHE: [redacted] definitely had has said that she was working at Mar-a-Lago and that you received a treatment of her — from her at some point, and that you recruited her to meet Mr. Epstein.

GHISLAINE MAXWELL: Right.

TODD BLANCHE: Do you know, affirmatively, whether that’s true or false, or do you just not have a memory either way?

GHISLAINE MAXWELL: I really don’t believe it’s true. But I know that I did go to spas and if I met someone, I did ask if they’re (indiscernible) — so I don’t — in the realms of possibility, it could have, but I have no memory of it.

TODD BLANCHE: Okay. GHISLAINE MAXWELL: And I don’t believe that that it’s how it went down, but I don’t want to —

Not only did Blanche get the story wrong (Giuffre was not doing massages, she was working the desk, reading a book about massages), but he went to some length to get a specific denial on the record.

Even Trump knows this is false, as he publicly confessed days later.

Reporter 1: I’m just curious. Were some of the workers that were taken from you — were some of them young women?

Trump: Were some of them?

Reporter 1: Were some of them young women?

Trump: Well, I don’t wanna say, but everyone knows the people that were taken. It was, the concept of taking people that work for me is bad. But that story’s been pretty well out there. And the answer is, yes, they were.

[inaudible]

Trump: In the spa. People that work in the spa. I have a great spa, one of the best spas in the world at Mar-a-Lago. And people were taken out of the spa. Hired. By him. In other words, gone. And um, other people would come and complain. This guy is taking people from the spa. I didn’t know that. And then when I heard about it I told him, I said, listen, we don’t want you taking our people, whether they were spa or not spa. I don’t want him taking people. And he was fine and then not too long after that he did it again and I said Out of here.

Reporter 2: Mr. President, did one of those stolen persons, did that include Virginia Giuffre?

Trump: Uh, I don’t know. I think she worked at the spa. I think so. I think that was one of the people, yeah. He stole her. And by the way, she had no complaints about us, as you know. None whatsoever.

What Blanche did was not get the truth, but instead lock Maxwell into specific lies.

It was a shameful use of government resources.

But it appears to have achieved Mutually Assured Silence.

Timeline

July 6: DOJ and FBI renege on the promise to release Epstein files

July 8: Trump whines that his base kept talking about Epstein

July 15: WSJ contacts Trump about Epstein book story; Pam Bondi fires Maurene Comey

July 17: WSJ publishes first Epstein book story

July 22: News of Blanche meeting with Maxwell released

July 24: First day of interview; Maxwell claims she doesn’t remember recruiting at Mar-a-Lago; WSJ publishes second Epstein book story 

July 25: Second day of interview; Maxwell concedes she may have recruited a spa girl at Mar-a-Lago

July 29: Trump confesses he knows that Virginia Giuffre was “stolen” from Mar-a-Lago

August 1: Maxwell moved to cozier digs

August 5: NYT brownstone story

August 22: Release of Maxwell transcripts

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50 replies
  1. Discontinued Barbie says:

    Thank for your summary and analysis. It is sometime hard to put it all into perspective while they, “flood the end zone” with the dismantling of America.

    What I don’t understand is why they thought this would make people back off. If anything this whole charade, has made people more suspicious of his actions. Or do you think they don’t care what people believe. The end goal was to strictly secure mutual destruction silence and procure additional blackmail targets.
    I always assumed that Gates was guilty since his wife divorced him. Her disgust in Bill was palatable not to mention willing to blow up your life’s work to make a clear separation was a statement in itself. She survived known affairs, shady business dealings, and years of unpleasant scrutiny, for her to draw the line now, had to be something significant. I heard nothing but disgust in her voice when she was interviewed after the divorce.
    Has anyone one else been tracking the potential blackmailees and what Trump has been demanding of them?

    Reply
    • Concerned Citizen 42 says:

      This is getting a bit conspiratorial, even in Marcy’s post. Gates has never been linked to Epstein for anything more than a few meetings where he strung Gates along about a large donation, and this potential ‘blackmail’ is about a consensual relationship with an adult. Now that he’s divorced, this would probably not be anything he’d go too far out of his way to keep quiet.

      Bill Gates founded a clean energy company, Breakthrough Energy, which can be made or broken by government regulations. They took a serious hit during the first Trump term and it would not be a stretch to imagine he’d make a deal with Trump in regards to that business rather than covering up an extramarital affair.

      Reply
      • Rayne says:

        I think you’ve forgotten others who were not Trump supporters who did a volte-face after meeting with him, like Lindsey Graham after a golf game with Trump in March 2017.

        I think you’ve also forgotten that Team Trump holds all the evidence collected by the feds on Epstein, so they know if there was something more there than “a few meetings where he [Epstein] strung Gates along about a large donation.” Which, I should point out, makes zero sense when Gates was one of the richest men in the world.

        Welcome to emptywheel.

        Reply
        • Concerned Citizen 42 says:

          When Epstein went to The Gates Foundation and told them JP Morgan, himself, and his billionaire business clients were interested in starting a fund that could inject hundreds of billions into global health programs, I think it makes a little bit of sense that Gates was interested.

          Their relationship apparently only lasted as long as it took for them to realize he wasn’t exactly serious about the fund. The New York Times reported “Mr. Epstein complained to an acquaintance at the end of 2014 that Mr. Gates had stopped talking to him”

        • Rayne says:

          So it hasn’t occurred to you that Epstein may have been blackmailing Gates to force him to participate in the fund, or that Team Trump knows about this now and may be extorting behavior from Gates?

          *smh*

    • Cheez Whiz says:

      Always remember that Trump and his administration are always talking to his base, from their prespective no one else matters.

      Reply
    • Rayne says:

      You know what I’ve found odd? Alan Dershowitz has been fairly quiet — at least up to his stupidity taking an interview with Chris Cuomo in which he attempted to claim his innocence of any inappropriate behavior while bashing victims. Right after making the point he was Epstein’s attorney.

      I fear this is what will happen as this opens up. Perps will find ways to hurt victims even further.

      Reply
      • Joe Orton says:

        I want to know the name of everyone who partook in Epstein’s teenage girl sex operation. I realize there will be people on that list that will bum me out to know what they did, like Bill Richardson, but the victims need some form of justice even if it’s just name and shame.
        And, I wonder if the involvement of people like Kissinger and Dershowitz emboldened other men to partake in having sex with teenage girls because they thought those men would never let themselves be caught so they could ride in those men’s wake and not get caught too?

        Reply
    • wa_rickf says:

      For the MAGAts that comment at Fox News, this Ghislaine Maxwell / Todd Blanche interview has assuaged the need to “release the files.” MAGAts are good with Trump again.

      It’s interesting that when I label Trump a sexual deviant at Fox News comments, I get no push back. No down votes. No comments. The post is ignored.

      When I label Trump a 34-count convicted felon, everyone and their brother replies to THAT post: “kangaroo court,” “will be overturned on appeal,” “democrat jury.” When I reply to the replies with: “Jury selected by Trump attorneys.” “trial so legit, the SCOTUS allowed Trump to be sentenced,” I get no replies back to my rejoinders.

      MAGAts know…but they ignore because Trump got what he wanted from Ghislaine Maxwell and the perception that Trump is innocent in the Epstein situation is all that matters to MAGAts.

      Reply
  3. PedroVermont says:

    Blanche did lock in those lies. Unfortunately, a cabal that includes billionaires, dictators, presidents, and popes pretty much assures those lies, and the mutually assured silence you mention.

    Did anyone really believe the convicted sex trafficker Maxwell would implicate such people? She’s playing her cards to survive, and avoid the same fate as her pal. Nothing she says can be trusted.

    Reply
      • earlofhuntingdon says:

        If Maxwell was indirectly naming names in her scripted talk with Todd Blanche, an obvious reason for it would be to remind them to be nice to Trump, lest they remain unredacted.

        Reply
        • Ginevra diBenci says:

          Interesting how some of those names “came to [her] in the night.” Makes me wonder about what kind of angels and/or birds Blanche brought along with him from DC.

        • PedroVermont says:

          It is possible she just pulled some of those big names out of her imaginary hat. She is a convicted sex trafficker, serial liar, and has zero credibility with anyone. At this point I consider her only a distraction.

        • P J Evans says:

          I seriously doubt either JPII or Fidel Castro was visiting Epstein. Not because they might not enjoy that kind of thing, but because they’d be *noticed* if they were in town.

        • wa_rickf says:

          @ P J Evans August 28, 2025 at 5:00 pm

          Indeed. Where does one inconspicuously park a Popemobile?

        • wa_rickf says:

          The Mercedes’ electric G580 G-Class off-roader Popemobile. With its specially designed transmission, it can also travel over long distances at walking speed.

          The base color is a papal pearl white, the floor a cardinal red. The loading area sports a raised chair that can be swivelled, enabling the Pope to turn in any direction and wave. There’s also a roof in case of bad weather.

          It’s pretty cool looking actually.

          https://www.westhawaiitoday.com/2024/12/06/nation-world-news/the-popes-new-wheels-introducing-the-new-fully-electric-popemobile/

  4. zscoreUSA says:

    Also from the NYT article, the article opens with this near the top:

    Ehud Barak, former prime minister of Israel, and his wife noted the great diversity of guests. “There is no limit to your curiosity,” they wrote in their message, which was compiled with others in January 2016. “You are like a closed book to many of them but you know everything about everyone.”

    The article ending paragraph describes the text from Ehud Barak in the January 2016 birthday letter to Epstein:

    In their typed letter, Mr. Barak and his wife, Nili Priel, hailed Mr. Epstein as “A COLLECTOR OF PEOPLE.” The letter concluded, “May you enjoy long and healthy life and may all of us, your friends, enjoy your table for many more years to come.”

    The middle of the article describes this about an artifact from Epstein’s NY home:

    Epstein preserved a map of Israel drawn on a chalkboard with Mr. Barak’s signature, according to a photo reviewed by The New York Times.

    The article identifies Barak as a former prime minister, but declines to mention he was also head of defense, and head military intelligence during the time frame Israel participated in Iran-Contra. Nor does it mention Barak was currently, in January 2016, business partners with Epstein in a surveillance company called Carbyne, which has ties to Israel’s Unit 8200, Viktor Vekselberg, and Erik Prince.

    Reply
  5. Amateur Lawyer at Work says:

    So, the pardon Maxwell hopes to get from Trump would have to blanket for any crimes committed ever, not just in connection with her conviction, since there’s a decent case for lying to FBI and/or perjury. I can imagine that would play well with Trump’s base.

    Reply
  6. Error Prone says:

    You need more readers. The more people that learn of details omitted or fudged in MSM, the better.

    As said in the Sixties, “The whole world is watching.” May they get the full story. AND – the whole world is being watched, that is important too.

    Reply
  7. Flatulus says:

    We’ve now heard allegations of sex trafficking at Jeffrey’s Mansion in Manhattan, Palm Beach and Little St. James Island. Wasn’t there also a ranch in New Mexico? Was it searched? Why has this location not received scrutiny?

    Reply
  8. The Old Redneck says:

    All the attention to Maxwell is dismaying. The notion that she is more credible than the victims is laughable. She is trying to save herself, and she’s savvy enough to know what to say.

    The victims have nothing to gain by naming names (including Trump’s). Blanche should be interviewing them instead. The fact that he hasn’t tells you everything you need to know.

    Reply
        • Reader 21 says:

          I did not know that—wow. And he had to have emigrated from the USSR, at a time when they extracted a heavy, never ending price (“I need you to do me a favor though). Particularly wrt certain emigres, per Craig Unger. ‘Americans would be horrified if they understood the lengths to which they will go to destroy them.’ Nina Kruscheva, retelling what her grandfather Nikita told her when he was dying (paraphrasing), regarding the hard-liners who had pushed him out.

  10. Jaybird51 says:

    In another thread I brought up the Zorro Ranch to make note of people who were employees of Epstein that should have known what was going on then. The issue, of course, goes deeper into the vast network of cover-ups.

    New Mexico has indeed looked into the affair but the investigation was stifled. The FBI took over.

    In July, 2019, the New Mexico State Land Office provided the New Mexico Attorney General’s office with over 400 pages of documents related to existing and expired state trust land leases with Cypress Inc., a Virgin Islands company owned by Epstein.

    Upon learning that Cypress Inc. held two agricultural leases, totaling 1,243.83 acres, Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard compiled documents related to the leases and provided them to the NM Attorney General Hector Balderas.

    Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard released the following statement: “It is absolutely horrifying to discover that we have existing leases with an individual who has caused irreparable harm to so many women and girls. The best thing that we can do at this time is to provide the Attorney General with any and all resources at our disposal to assist with their investigation. The leases that we sign are legally binding
    contracts but we are pursuing every legal avenue to terminate Epstein’s leases with the State Land Office as soon as possible.”

    In 2019, Investigators with the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office turned over their information to federal prosecutors for the US Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York. This was before Epstein’s conviction.

    In 2024, KRQE News 13 obtained records that seems to explain what happened to NM Attorney General case on Epstein.

    “In a 2022 email about an investigation into Ghislaine Maxwell, one of the attorney general’s special agents wrote: ‘Several years ago, we began looking into this case and were asked to stop by DOJ as the FBI was investigating and they were prosecuting in NY.’

    The attorney general’s director of special investigations confirmed in a reply email, that the matter was closed and referred to the FBI.”

    “We believe that this ranch was used by Epstein and others to facilitate the commission and prolonged concealment of his trafficking of children,” Clara Moran, former chief deputy attorney general who’s now a district judge, wrote in a 2020 letter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York City. “I ask that any interests belonging to Epstein’s estate or co-conspirators be seized by federal authorities.”

    December 28, 2023, current NM Attorney General Raúl Torrez and Deutsche Bank announced a $4.95 million pledge by Deutsche Bank to fund additional resources to prevent, investigate, and prosecute human trafficking in the state of New Mexico.

    The pledge of support came in the wake of Attorney General Torrez’s ongoing investigation into various financial services companies and the role they played in failing to identify the sexual abuse and trafficking of underage girls at Zorro Ranch.

    “The fight against human trafficking and sexual exploitation extends to the corporate board room and I am pleased that Deutsche Bank recognizes its ongoing responsibility to help us combat this problem,” said Torrez.

    A spokesperson for Deutsch Bank wrote: “We are pleased to support the Attorney General in this important effort, which reflects our industry’s shared responsibility to play an active role in safeguarding the financial system.”

    So where are the files from investigations here in New Mexico?
    There’s obviously a lot of information already and lots of people involved.

    [Welcome back to emptywheel. Please use the SAME EMAIL ADDRESS and username each time you comment so that community members get to know you. You made a typo in your email address, one you have made several times previously that I have fixed without telling you. I need you to address this problem. You typed “lalam——–” when your correct email address is “laalam——–.” Please check your browser’s cache and autofill; future comments may not publish if your email address does not match. /~Rayne]

    Reply
    • Rayne says:

      Please provide links to your source material because it’s difficult to tell which text is yours and which is excerpted from sources.

      Reply
  11. HonestyPolicyCraig says:

    My goodness, Bill Gates being the most prominent first person blackmailed. And Musk. And Castro!

    And in true psychopath speak –
    “I don’t — I don’t recall. Is it possible? Yes. But I don’t remember — I don’t remember that. So I don’t want to — I don’t recall that, but it’s possible.”
    the “I don’t remember that… ” ugh, it smacks of an immature 16 year old here.

    Reply
  12. Magnet48 says:

    I thought the original statements by police noted that the brownstone was wired throughout for surveillance & that it would be interesting to see the recordings. This just might be my faulty memory since I have no idea where I saw that.

    Reply
  13. zscoreUSA says:

    The video analysis linked in the article is worth watching.

    The analyst really points out Maxwell’s techniques of lying based on watch she thinks is in the public domain and adapting based on Blanche’s line of questioning.

    With the analyst pointing out the lying techniques and playing the audio with the overlayed transcript, the interview really gives off Spinal Tap vibes that are hard to unheard. Like Rob Reiner asking Nigel Tufnel explaining his guitar collection.

    https://youtu.be/MxDjUQyETfY?si=Hch5uqHwWxRe1efc

    Reply

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