(WASHINGTON) — A senior Department of Justice official is meeting with longtime Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell on Thursday in Tallahassee, Florida, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
The meeting between Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and Maxwell is occurring in downtown Tallahassee at the U.S. attorney’s office, which is located inside the federal courthouse, sources familiar with the matter said.
Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking and other charges and sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022. She is serving her sentence at a federal prison in Tallahassee.
Blanche arrived at the federal courthouse around 9 a.m. ET. He shook his head and said “no” when asked if he had anything to say ahead of his meeting with Maxwell.
Maxwell’s attorneys were also seen entering the federal courthouse in Tallahassee.
“We’re looking forward to a productive day,” David O. Markus, Maxwell’s appellate lawyer, told ABC News. He declined further comment.
The Justice Department said earlier this week that the meeting between Blanche and Maxwell would occur “in the coming days.”
“President Trump has told us to release all credible evidence. If Ghislaine Maxwell has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the DOJ will hear what she has to say,” Blanche said in the statement posted by Attorney General Pam Bondi on X earlier this week.
Maxwell’s attorney confirmed earlier this week that they were in discussions with the government about the visit, saying in a statement that “Ghislaine will always testify truthfully.”
Separately, on Wednesday, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer issued a subpoena for Maxwell for a deposition to occur at the prison on Aug. 11.
“The facts and circumstances surrounding both your and Mr. Epstein’s cases have received immense public interest and scrutiny,” Comer wrote in a statement Wednesday.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has come to the defense of Attorney General Pam Bondi amid an all-out revolt among his MAGA base over the administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
But his effort over the weekend to quell the outrage only seemed to add fuel to to the fire.
“What’s going on with my ‘boys’ and, in some cases, ‘gals?’ They’re all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! We’re on one Team, MAGA, and I don’t like what’s happening,” Trump wrote in a lengthy post to his conservative social media platform on Saturday evening.
“We have a PERFECT Administration, THE TALK OF THE WORLD, and ‘selfish people’ are trying to hurt it, all over a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein,” Trump continued.
Trump’s post was ratioed, meaning the post received far more replies than likes or re-posts, often a sign of widespread disapproval — despite Trump’s platform Truth Social being home to many of his most diehard supporters.
Some of Trump’s fiercest defenders have continued to target the attorney general, warning the president that the issue is not going away and could cost him heading into next year’s midterms.
“People make their own choices and decisions, but mark my word, the lack of actual results at the DOJ and lack of transparency that translates into incompetence will cost the GOP House and Senate seats. Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Laura Loomer, who has been leading the charge for months against Bondi, posted on X.
Conservative commentator Megyn Kelly, who endorsed and campaigned for Trump in 2024, was still putting heat on Bondi even after Trump’s post.
“I’m sure it’s a relief for Pam Bondi to hear the president is still in her corner. Unfortunately, huge swaths of the party are not. She repeatedly misled on Epstein. Then didn’t have the courage to explain herself. Suddenly, she’s camera shy & no Qs allowed. Good luck!” Kelly wrote on X.
At the conservative Turning Point USA conference in Florida on Friday, Fox host Laura Ingraham asked if the crowd to clap if they were satisfied with the results of the Epstein investigation. The crowd loudly booed in response.
But on Monday, Turning Point USA co-founder and conservative commentator Charlie Kirk said Trump had called him and that he would trust the administration and wanted to move on from the controversy.
Kirk said Trump told him over the weekend that he still backed Bondi, sources confirmed to ABC News. Trump made the call after being shown a clip of Kirk seeming to support Bongino over Bondi at the Turning Point summit, sources said.
Notably, in recent days and weeks, Kirk has not been one of the MAGA voices leading the charge regarding the Epstein files controversy, and has at times been more trying to calm things down inside the base as other voices on the right raise the alarm.
At the same time, Trump’s former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon pushed for action regarding Epstein, posting online that Trump should “Give Epstein Evidence to the Special Prosecutor — NOW.”
Meanwhile, Lara Trump, President Trump’s daughter-in-law and a Fox News host, told MAGA influencer Benny Johnson on Monday that she believed there did need to be “more transparency” regarding the administration’s handling of the Epstein case and said she believed “that that will happen,” predicting more information would be released “sooner rather than later.”
Lara Trump’s message to the MAGA base: “But to everybody out there who’s all worked up about it, there’s no great plot to keep this information away that I’m aware of.”
The political firestorm kicked off after the Justice Department and FBI released a memo stating they found no evidence the deceased financier kept a “client list” of associates whom he blackmailed or conspired with to victimize dozens of women. No further charges are expected in connection with their probes into Epstein, the memo stated.
The department also released hours of footage as part of its review, which officials say further confirmed Epstein died by suicide while in custody in his jail cell in Manhattan in 2019.
Bondi, in particular, has come under fire over her comments to Fox News in February when asked about Epstein’s alleged “client list.” She told the outlet at the time, “It’s sitting on my desk right now to review.”
Bondi argued in a Cabinet meeting last week that she was simply referring to a file on Epstein.
“I was asked a question about the client list, and my response was, it’s sitting on my desk to be reviewed, meaning the file along with the JFK, MLK files as well. That’s what I meant by that,” Bondi said.
Trump in his social media post on Saturday sought to put his own spin on the Epstein files, claiming without any evidence they were created by some of his political foes, including former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Biden administration.
The Epstein files have also caused infighting within the administration.
Last week, Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino had a fiery confrontation with Bondi over how she has handled the review of the Epstein files and the Monday memo, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
Sources said that Bongino has recently suggested to allies he may resign.
Trump was asked by ABC News on Sunday if Bongino was still his deputy director of the FBI. Trump responded by saying, “Oh, I think so.”
“I did, I spoke to him today, Dan Bongino, very good guy. I’ve known him a long time. I’ve done his show many, many times, and he sounded terrific, actually. No, I think he’s in good shape,” Trump said.
Trump, in his social media post, insisted that his administration is achieving success and shouldn’t get sidetracked by this. He encouraged both Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel to focus on other things he deems as a priority, like voter fraud or the 2020 election.
“LET PAM BONDI DO HER JOB — SHE’S GREAT!” Trump wrote.
In another show of support, Trump brought Bondi along to the FIFA Club World Cup final in New Jersey on Sunday night.
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Homeland Security has confirmed that eight migrants convicted of violent crimes were placed on a deportation flight from Texas headed to war-torn South Sudan on Monday, officials said on Wednesday.
Although they are going to the African nation, officials cautioned this would not be their final destination.
Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told reporters, “No country on earth wanted to accept them because their crimes are so uniquely monstrous and barbaric.”
“A local judge in Massachusetts is trying to force the United States to bring back these uniquely barbaric monsters who present a clear and present threat to the safety of the American people and American victims. While we are fully compliant with the law and court orders, it is absolutely absurd for a district judge to try and to dictate the foreign policy and national security of the United States of America,” McLaughlin said.
Judge Brian Murphy of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued an order on Tuesday directing the government to maintain custody of anyone covered by his preliminary injunction that is currently being removed to South Sudan or any other country “to ensure the practical feasibility of return if the Court finds that such removals were unlawful.” Another hearing is set for Wednesday in Boston, with U.S. officials ordered to appear.
When asked where the eight men are, McLaughlin said she “can’t disclose where their current whereabouts are right now” but that they were still in DHS custody. Officials declined to identify their final destination, citing security concerns.
“I would caution you to make the assumption that their final destination is South Sudan. As far as that agreement goes, I would definitely refer you to the State Department’s more specifics,” she added.
Officials said the men’s countries of origin refused to accept them, so DHS in partnership with the State Department found a country that would accept them through a “safe third-country agreement.”
“I can say that their home countries refuse to take these individuals back,” acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons said.
“ICE detention isn’t punitive. We detain and remove after six months or 180 days. If we don’t have a country that’ll take their citizens back, we do have an option to find a safe third country,” Lyons said.
McLaughlin told reporters that the eight migrants were given due process.
“We are following due process under the U.S. Constitution. These individuals have been given and their lawyers have been given plenty of prior notice. As far as those actual agreements, we can get back to you with more information from the State Department,” she said.
ICE released names and other details regarding those deported on Wednesday. Several were convicted of first-degree and second-degree murder.
Kyaw Mya, a citizen of Burma, was convicted of lascivious acts with a child-victim less than 12 years of age. Nyo Myint, a citizen of Burma, was convicted of first-degree sexual assault involving a victim mentally and physically incapable of resisting.
Another was convicted of robbery, possession of a firearm and driving under the influence.
(WASHINGTON) — Over the past six months, Vice President JD Vance has shown how much of a key player he has become in the Trump administration, serving as the president’s most prominent advocate and advancing his agenda.
The latest example came this week, when Vance helped push President Donald Trump’s massive tax and spending bill through Congress.
Vance held a series of meetings with conservative and moderate holdouts and Senate leadership last Saturday to help move the bill forward. A source with direct knowledge stated that Vance played a key role in talking with Senate holdouts throughout the bill before he ended up casting several tie-breaking votes as president of the Senate and move the spending bill along to the House.
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who had been critical of the bill’s cuts to Medicaid and SNAP — the food assistance program — met with Vance, where he thanked her for being a team player despite her concerns with the legislation, just before she voted for the bill.
During the sprint to push the bill through, Vance was criticized for his social post around concerns of the bill’s impact on Medicaid, writing that “the minutiae of the Medicaid policy—is immaterial compared to the ICE money and immigration enforcement provisions.”
During all this, Vance was making phone calls to Trump and the two were updating each other on their talks with senators ahead of the bill’s passage.
The vice president attended Wednesday’s meeting at the White House between Trump and several holdouts from the House as the president ramped up the pressure to vote for the bill.
North Carolina GOP Rep. Greg Murphy, who had told reporters on Wednesday night that he was still undecided because of some of the health care provisions, said Thursday that he ultimately decided to support the package after speaking on the phone to Vance and the president.
“I needed assurances,” he said.
A source close to Vance said that he continued to work the phones ahead of the floor vote on the rule, calling multiple House GOP holdouts to make the administration’s case for them to support the bill.
However, it’s not just on the domestic policy front that Vance is having an impact. He has also been critical in supporting Trump’s foreign policy.
While Trump was weighing the decision to strike Iran’s nuclear sites, Vance came to the president’s defense after supporters like Tucker Carlson and those in the MAGA base were outspoken against the U.S. getting involved in the conflict between Israel and Iran.
“He may decide he needs to take further action to end Iranian enrichment. That decision ultimately belongs to the president,” Vance wrote on X. “And of course, people are right to be worried about foreign entanglement after the last 25 years of idiotic foreign policy. But I believe the president has earned some trust on this issue. And having seen this up close and personal, I can assure you that he is only interested in using the American military to accomplish American people’s goals. Whatever he does, that is his focus.”
Vance’s comments were a departure from his prior statements that the U.S. should not get entangled in foreign conflicts.
A prime example is the vice president’s opposition to the U.S. providing more aid to Ukraine.
“I gotta be honest with you, I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another,” Vance said in February 2022, amid an explosion of bipartisan support for the country following the aftermath of Russia’s invasion.
Most recently, Vance expressed concerns about the president’s decision to strike the Houthis in Yemen in a Signal group chat with other top administration officials.
“I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now,” Vance wrote in the chat. “There’s a further risk that we see a moderate to severe spike in oil prices. I am willing to support the consensus of the team and keep these concerns to myself. But there is a strong argument for delaying this a month, doing the messaging work on why this matters, seeing where the economy is, etc.”
In the lead-up to the strikes, Trump was trying to engage the MAGA base with Vance to see what their reaction would be if he ordered the bombing.
Prior to the strikes, Trump told reporters on Air Force One while flying back from the G7 summit in Canada that it was possible he could send Vance and special envoy Steve Witkoff to meet with Iranian negotiators.
Vance’s active role in moving Trump’s agenda forward was always part of the plan.
In November, following the election, a source close to the vice president told ABC News that Vance had been tasked to ensure that all of the priorities of the Trump administration move forward and would work on any of the issues Trump needed him to further, signaling that the vice president would not be assigned one specific issue to work on, but would be involved in several policy issues.
It was also expected that Vance would be Trump’s “eyes and ears” in the Senate to ensure that his agenda moves forward, the source also said. It’s familiar territory for Vance, who was elected to the Senate in 2022.
All this comes as Vance is viewed by some as the MAGA heir apparent to Trump ahead of the 2028 election. At the same time, he is working to raise as much money as possible for Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterms as chair of the Republican National Committee — the first time a vice president has ever held the role.
Joel Goldstein, a vice-presidential scholar and former professor at Saint Louis University Law School, told ABC News that Vance is working in a different timeline compared to his predecessors, as he will serve only one term as vice president under Trump.
“Every vice presidency is different and one of the things that is unique about Vance’s is that every other vice president, you know, with the possible exception of Harris, entered office with the expectation that the president was going to run for reelection,” Goldstein said.
“I think he’s in a very unique position in that his first term as vice president is his last, and so his presidential ambitions, the time for reckoning comes up, you know, much quicker than is normally the case.”
Following his tie-breaking votes in the Senate, several Democrats who might be opponents in the 2028 presidential election attempted to make Vance the face of Trump’s spending bill.
In a post on X, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called out Vance for casting the tie-breaking vote to allow the bill to move forward.
“VP Vance has cast the deciding vote in the Senate to cut Medicaid, take away food assistance, blow up the deficit, and add tax breaks for the wealthiest,” Buttigieg wrote. “This bill is unpopular because it is wrong,” he continued.
California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom told Americans on X to “bookmark” this moment, writing that “JD Vance is the ultimate reason why 17 million Americans will lose their healthcare.”
In an interview with NBC News, Trump pointed to Vance and Secretary of State and interim national security adviser Marco Rubio as possible successors, and said, when asked, that he believes his MAGA movement can survive without him.
Asked about the president’s comments, Vance said that if he does end up running for president, he’s “not entitled to it.”
