The Japan Times - Top US Justice official meets with Epstein accomplice for 2nd day

Todd Blanche, the DOJ number-two who is also Trump's former personal attorney, has declined for now to say what he is discussing with Maxwell in their Tallahassee, Florida meetings.

Maxwell's lawyer David Markus has similarly declined to give details on the meetings' content, but said after a first hours-long session on Thursday that his client had answered every question.

Trump is looking to quickly move past the saga, which has seen him on rare unsure footing over claims his administration mishandled a review of the notorious case.

On Friday, Trump again sought to put distance between himself and Epstein, the disgraced financier who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

"I have nothing to do with the guy," Trump, whose past friendship with Epstein has received much media attention this week, told reporters ahead of a visit to Scotland.

He urged journalists to rather "focus" on Democratic Party figures like former president Bill Clinton and his treasury secretary, former Harvard president Larry Summers, whom the president claimed were "really close friends" of Epstein.

Asked whether he was considering a pardon or commutation of Maxwell's 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking, Trump said it was something "I haven't thought about" -- but stressed he had the power to do so.

Epstein's death in his New York prison cell was ruled a suicide, but it fueled conspiracy theories that he was murdered to stop him testifying against high-profile accomplices.

Trump, who had promised his base revelations about the case, has infuriated some of his supporters after his administration announced in early July that it had not discovered any new elements warranting the release of additional documents.

The Department of Justice and the FBI said there was no proof that there was a "list" of Epstein's clients, while affirming that he died by suicide.

- 'Scapegoat'? -

Blanche and his team entered the Tallahassee courthouse where they were meeting Maxwell through a back door, US media reported.

Maxwell's lawyer Markus spoke briefly to journalists ahead of his client's renewed questioning by Blanche.

"Ghislaine has been treated unfairly for over five years now," he said, describing Maxwell as a "scapegoat."

"Everything she says can be corroborated and she's telling the truth. She's got no reason to lie at this point and she's going to keep telling the truth," he added, declining to give any details about the questions being put to Maxwell.

Maxwell was convicted in 2022 for grooming underage girls between 1994 and 2004 so that Epstein could sexually exploit them.

"The Department of Justice will share additional information about what we learned at the appropriate time," Blanche wrote on X Thursday.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that the president's name was among hundreds found during a DOJ review of the so-called "Epstein files," though there has not been evidence of wrongdoing.

Trump filed a $10 billion defamation suit against the Journal last week after it reported that he had penned a sexually suggestive letter to Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003.

House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson cut short the legislative session this week, sending lawmakers home on summer recess a day early to avoid potentially combustible debate -- particularly among Trump's Republicans -- on the release of files.

S.Yamada--JT