United States

Epstein case, Justice Department hears Ghislaine Maxwell. Questioning in the House in August

"Trump knew he was in the Epstein files": it was the Justice Department that informed the president as early as May. Who dribbles the uncomfortable case by invoking criminal investigations against Barack Obama on Russiagate

23 July 2025Aggiornato il 24 luglio 2025 ore 17:40

Trump contro il Wall Street Journal: bufera sul caso Epstein e minacce di causa

5' min read

U.S. Justice Department officials will today question Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend and accomplice of financier Jeffrey Epstein, who died by suicide in prison in 2019 where he was serving a sentence for sexual abuse and international child trafficking. The New York Times reveals this, citing two anonymous sources close to the matter and revealing that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who flew to Florida last night, may attend the meeting. The woman, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking, is scheduled to be heard today by officials and next month by the Congressional Oversight Committee, which has voted to green-light another deposition, set for 11 August. It is unclear what information Maxwell plans to disclose to officials in order to receive a reduced sentence, writes The Nyt, but the meeting is part of the department's efforts to "quell" criticism and rumours that federal officials are "withholding details about the crimes" of Epstein because of his relationships with high-profile figures, including President Trump.

Confirmation of the talks came from the ADA, Todd Blanche, who wrote on X, "For the first time, the Justice Department is reaching out to Ghislaine Maxwell to ask her, 'what do you know?'" He added: "No one is above the law and no lead is off limits." Lawyer Alan Dershowitz, the financier's former attorney, had said in recent days that "only Maxwell's testimony will be able to shed light on Epstein's controversial dealings," considering the long time spent with him. "She knows everything and I believe she is serving an improper sentence. She should be released and given a discounted sentence," he had said. Trump's friendship with Epstein, which lasted more than 15 years, came under scrutiny after the Justice Department said it did not possess the paedophile financier's list of wealthy 'clients', fuelling rumours, brought forward by the Maga (Make America great again) movement, of an alleged cover-up of the names of VIPs involved in the abuse network.

Pam Bondi 'whistleblower' to President Trump

Donald Trump's name appeared several times in the dossier on the Epstein case in the hands of the Justice Department and he knew it. He had been informed since last May by Pam Bondi, Justice Secretary, during a briefing. The indiscretions reported by the Wall Street Journal, which had already unveiled a vulgar greeting card attributed to Trump on Epstein's 50th birthday in 2003, were also confirmed by sources in the New York Times.

Trump has consistently and publicly denied that he was made aware of any mention of his name in the files, which the government has since decided not to release on the grounds that they contain nothing relevant violating the victims' privacy. The President also said the note was a forgery and denounced the Wall Street Journal for defamation and damages of ten billion dollars.

Revelation after revelation, the case remains a serious unknown for the administration, after a section of the Maga movement rebelled against Trump's failure to deliver on his election promise of full transparency on the Epstein files, convinced that corruption of powerful elites is hidden in these documents. House Speaker Mike Johnson recently decided to bring forward the summer recess of parliament to avoid the risk of embarrassing votes on the release of the files.

In August Maxwell questioned in the House

The oversight committee of the House of Representatives has meanwhile officially summoned Ghislaine Maxwell for a deposition on 11 August that will take place in the prison in Tallahassee, Florida, where she is serving her sentence. In a message to her, the Commission's chairman, Jamer Comer, writes: "The facts and circumstances surrounding your case and Epstein's case have received a great deal of public attention and interest. While the Justice Department is committed to uncovering and making public further information regarding the cases involving you and Mr. Epstein, it is critical that Congress exercise oversight over the application of federal sex trafficking laws in general and, in particular, over the handling of the investigation and prosecution of you and Mr. Epstein."

White House on the counter-attack

The focus is now, however, first and foremost on the Justice Department officials who earlier this year examined the vast crates of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein and discovered that Donald Trump's name appeared repeatedly. In May, Justice Minister Pam Bondi and her deputy informed the president in a meeting at the White House that his name was there. Many other high-profile figures, it was reported to Trump, were also mentioned in the documents. This does not mean that there is compromising information or possible criminal offences, but the confirmation of a, however old, proximity to Epstein seems uncomfortable to say the least.

The President had dated Epstein until the early 2000s, only to break up with him, he had made known, prior to the initial charges against the financier, starting in 2006, of soliciting prostitution, abusing minors and sex trafficking. In 2019 he was arrested a second time and died by suicide in prison while awaiting trial.

The White House hit back again on the latest revelations: 'This is another fake news, just like the previous Wall Street Journal article,' said a spokesman. But the reality is that Trump is furious, his team is exasperated and the Republican-controlled House remains almost in revolt over the Epstein case. This was reported in detail by Politico, which quoted a senior White House official as saying that the tycoon is frustrated by his staff's inability to dispel the controversy surrounding conspiracy theories he once spread and the constant media coverage after Attorney General Bondi closed the case without releasing the files.

Trump and his closest allies were ready to spend the summer claiming successes, such as the approval of the maxi-financial bill with tax cuts and the imposition of new trade agreements on foreign governments. Instead, questions about Epstein are overshadowing almost everything else.

Signalling anger and a strategy that, according to critics, aims to seek distractions, Trump again went on the attack against traditional 'enemies', first and foremost former Democratic President Barack Obama. He accused him of artfully fabricating the Russiagate case, the attempted Russian influence on the 2016 election, which Trump won. An accusation, in short, of betraying the country, which Obama has dryly denied as outrageous and unprecedented.

Tulsi Gabbard in the field

The head of the administration's intelligence directorate, Tulsi Gabbard, said she reported the matter to the Justice Department for possible criminal investigation, citing the emergence of new documents but providing no new evidence. The department formed a task force citing the suspicion that Obama and his aides would order investigations into the then Trump campaign and its ties to the Kremlin and that the goal would be to destroy the future president. Gabbard claimed that officials with ties to Obama and Obama himself would conduct "a coup and a traitorous conspiracy" for years.

US intelligence services have repeatedly in recent years confirmed Moscow's efforts to manipulate the US elections. The new documents now released by Gabbard to support his j'accuse actually show that officials of the outgoing Obama administration in 2016 had requested a full review of intelligence information on Russian interference, with no irregularities in their conduct.

Marco ValsaniaGiornalista
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Luogo: New York, Usa
Lingue parlate: Italiano, Inglese
Argomenti: Economia, politica americana e internazionale, finanza, lavoro, tecnologia
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