Todd Blanche was Donald Trump’s personal lawyer at this time last year, defending him against numerous criminal indictments. Blanche is currently leading damage control efforts about the administration’s handling of the Jeffery Epstein files and is the second-highest ranking official in the Trump Justice Department.
Last week, Blanche had a private meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell, a longtime Epstein confidante who is currently serving a 20-year jail sentence for aiding Epstein in the sexual abuse of minor girls.
Blanche’s personal involvement is causing controversy, even if the interview is a part of the Justice Department’s efforts to curb the public fallout from the Epstein case and the conspiracy it has fostered.
“The best thing for any administration is to project to the American people that they are handling a matter like this with impartiality and on a level playing field so that the president is not appearing to use the Justice Department to hide sensitive information about himself,” said Claire Finkelstein, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania law school.
Because of his prior work on Trump’s behalf, Blanche’s active involvement here could backfire, she added.
“It is very concerning when you have someone who was formerly the president’s personal lawyer then getting involved to possibly assist the president in protecting his own image in this when he should be acting in a disinterested way for the Justice Department to ensure that justice is done here and that the interests of the American people are served.”
Unusual approach to interview
Interviewing a possible cooperating witness is extremely uncommon for a senior Justice Department official, much less the deputy attorney general.
According to Sarah Krissoff, a former federal prosecutor who worked under Blanche in New York, “even in the most high-profile case, the line prosecutors who are handling the matter are going to do the interview of somebody who is willing to provide information to the government.”
“If the purpose of the interview is to show the American public, ‘Hey, we’re following all these leads, we’re seeing if there’s any viable case against other individuals,’ I think that is undermined by having Blanche do those interviews,” said Krissoff, who is now a private attorney.
She is serving her term at the federal courthouse in Tallahassee, Florida, where the Maxwell interview was conducted over two days last week.
“It would be “enormously unusual” not to follow that approach,” Krissoff said, adding that law enforcement officials, in this case from the FBI, would often sit in on an interview like this.
“You generally would never conduct an interview of a cooperating witness without law enforcement personnel in the room,” she stated. Who else from the government participated in the Maxwell interview? NPR asked the Justice Department. Gates McGavick, a DOJ spokesperson, responded by citing only Blanche’s tweets about the meeting, which omit any information about other attendees.
Additionally, the Justice Department has not disclosed any details regarding the nature of the meeting, the guarantees or safeguards Maxwell was given prior to the encounter, or the general structure of the discussion.
“This Department of Justice does not shy away from uncomfortable truths, nor from the responsibility to pursue justice wherever the facts may lead,” Blanche wrote in a social media post.
Lack of trust in administration approach
Conspiracy theories have been stoked by the whole Epstein story, who passed away in a federal prison in 2019 while awaiting prosecution on sex-trafficking allegations. For many in the administration line, the lack of trust has been exacerbated by the secrecy surrounding the Maxwell interview.
According to Krissoff, responses to the interview’s fundamental questions, such as those about the outlines, would assist give the public some reassurance that everything is legal.
“Was she asked about her own conduct or was she asked to only speak about other people’s conduct?” “Krissoff said.” “There are lots of questions about the process here that I certainly would like to know the answer to.”
David Oscar Markus, Maxwell’s lawyer, later told reporters that Maxwell addressed all of the questions “honestly and truthfully, to the best of her ability” and that she never refused to answer or asserted a privilege.
“She may have been questioned about a hundred different people. She responded to inquiries about each individual. Markus remarked, “And she didn’t hold anything back.”
Maxwell has also requested amnesty to speak freely after being called to testify before the House Oversight Committee. The committee has previously stated that it will not take her immunity into consideration.
Trump hasn’t publicly committed to a pardon for Maxwell, but he hasn’t ruled it out either.
Friendship with Maxwell’s lawyer
Markus stated that there has been no offer of clemency.
He praised Blanche as well.
“The truth is what the deputy attorney general is looking for. Markus remarked, “He’s doing a fantastic job, and he asked every question imaginable.” Markus did not disclose that he and Blanche were friends at the time.
In June 2024, Blanche made an appearance as a guest on Markus’ podcast, “For The Defense.”
“Everybody knows who Todd is,” Markus states at the beginning of the show. “And he’s the first guest on ‘For The Defense’ to appear twice, so welcome to the show, Todd.”
The pair talked about Blanche’s work as Trump’s lawyer, particularly her representation during his criminal trial in New York, when he was found guilty on 34 charges in a hush money case.
As the episode comes to a close, Blanche calls Markus a buddy, and they make a joke about him being the first three-peat guest on the show.
According to law professor Finkelstein, there is no ethical issue with their friendship.
“The world of criminal justice is ultimately a small one, especially involving high-profile figures in federal law, and everybody sort of knows everybody else,” she stated.
However, it might be just one more cause for the public to be suspicious of Blanche’s involvement and the Maxwell interview, particularly for those who are already dubious of the administration’s handling of the Epstein files.
“It may backfire because if there is an attempt to use Todd Blanche as a cover-up in this way, and then to use the awesome power of the pardon which is extraordinarily powerful to keep Maxwell from talking would be a grave concern” Finkelstein stated.
According to her, such a situation would “leave the American people without the transparency that both sides of the aisle are beginning to demand.”
This story was supplied by Claudia Grisales of NPR.
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