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Ghislaine Maxwell is the key to Epstein - but here's the story - and Trump changes his mind again [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-07-16
I'm going to start another rumor. In the evidence list from the 2019 raid of Jeffrey Epstein's mansion, there was nothing about phones. And in all I've read about the Epstein case, and the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, nothing came up about phones, other than Maxwell's being used to get her location in New Hampshire. Nothing about data, text messages, photos or videos, on their phones. Epstein's got one to his head, using it while hugging Maxwell. They had phones.
Now, let's go back to Florida in 2007. Epstein had been indicted by a Florida grand jury in 2006. In 2007, the Florida federal prosecutors offered Epstein a deal if he would plead guilty to state charges, he would avoid much more serious federal charges. The state charges were for procuring a person under 18 for prostitution, and solicitation of prostitution. Everybody knew he was a sex offender, and yet he got the deal. The deal was prison for one and a half years, but he was allowed to his office almost daily, as part of a work release program. Nothing really happened to him. That was followed by a year of a house arrest. And he had to register as a sex offender. Essentially, he got a slap on the wrist. The US attorney for South Florida, Alex Acosta, was the one who signed off on the deal. It caught back up to him in 2019 when he was Trump's first Secretary of Labor, and he was forced to resign on July 19, while Epstein was in custody. He said that when he was vetted for the the job by the Trump Administration, he was told that Epstein "belonged to intelligence and to leave it alone."
Epstein had raped girls as young as 14. They were paid cash or rented cars, if they found him more girls. Normally, Florida grand jury transcripts are kept sealed forever. But Circuit Court Judge Luis Delgado released 150 pages of it in July of 2024.
Here's the 176 page release of of the 150 pages of the grand jury proceeding on Document Cloud.
Here's the original 14 page indictment of Epstein July 8, 2019 (PDF).
Epstein was arrested on July 6, 2019 at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey after his private jet arrived from Paris. He was charged with sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking for actions taken between 1994 and 2004 in New York and Florida. It reads that he was being arrested for the same federal charges which he was not charged with in 2006 with the deal to plead guilty to state charges. What about all that happened between 2009 and 2019?
Arrested July 6, died August 10th. He was 66 at time. The FBI raided his New York mansion at 9 East 71st St. in Manhattan at 5:30 pm on July 6th. The FBI forced their way in when no one answered the door. They then proceeded to search the mansion's 40 rooms, finding CDs, DVDs, and hard drives stashed in plastic boxes and drawers. They found the safe in a closet and had to cut it open with a saw. There, they found more hard drives and discs.
Here is the Department of Justice hearing log from July 8th to September 4th, 2019, on Jeffrey Epstein.
During their time together, JP Morgan records show that Maxwell received $30.7 million from 1999 to 2007, with the funds usually being generated by the sale of shares of stock. She bought a helicopter for $7.35 million in June of 2007. That purchase was done after $7.4 million was transferred from Epstein's account to an account named "Air Ghislaine." She is an experienced helicopter pilot.
Jeffrey and Ghislaine were first seen in public in 1991. At Jeffrey's mansion, she was known as "the lady of the house."
Ghislaine Maxwell looking at a massage table used at Epstein's mansion being set up. She reacted negatively at the time to its presence.
Maxwell was arrested on July 2, 2020 at her remote mansion in New Hampshire. The FBI found her by GPS tracking her phone.
Maxwell's home in New Hampshire.
Here's a timeline put together by the BBC:
2005: One of Jeffrey's alleged victims, age 14, reports him to the police in Palm Beach.
2006: Epstein is charged with unlawful acts with a minor.
2007: A plea deal is struck. Instead of facing federal sex trafficking charges, Epstein pleads guilty to two [Florida state] charges of soliciting prostitution, including with a minor.
2008: Epstein gets an 18-month sentence following the plea deal.
Then, after serving time, sort of, a massive gap of 10 years where Epstein roamed free, undisturbed.
November 2018: Miami Herald publishes an explosive investigation into Epstein, the plea deal, and the dozens of women alleging abuse.
July 6, 2019: Epstein is arrested again, accused of sex-trafficking of under-age girls over a number of years. [1994-2004].
August 10, 2019: Epstein is found dead in his cell while awaiting trial.
July 2, 2020: Ghislaine Maxwell is arrested by the FBI at her New Hampshire home.
July 14, 2020: Ms. Maxwell pleads not guilty of trafficking minors for Epstein, and is denied bail.
December 29, 2021: Maxwell is found guilty, following a one-month jury trial, of conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport minors to participate in illegal sex acts, sex trafficking conspiracy, and sex trafficking of a minor.
Maxwell enticed and groomed minor girls to be abused in multiple ways. For example, Maxwell attempted to befriend certain victims by asking about their lives, their schools, and their families, and taking them to movies or on shopping trips. Maxwell also acclimated victims to Epstein's conduct simply by being present for victim interactions with Epstein, which put victims at ease by providing assurance of an adult woman who seemingly approved of Epstein's behavior. Additionally, Epstein offered to help some victims by paying for travel/or educational opportunities, and Maxwell encouraged certain victims to accept Epstein's assistance. As a result, victims were made to feel indebted and believed Maxwell and Epstein were trying to help them. Maxwell also facilitated sexual abuse of a victim by discussing sexual topics, undressing in front of the victim, being present when the victim was undressed, and encouraging the victim to massage Epstein.
Then follows a detailed depiction in the Justice Department's statement of the actual sex acts.
Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison, 5 years of supervised release and ordered to pay a $750,000 fine.
Maxwell appealed her conviction on July 7, 2022. In August, 2022, her lawyers sued her for failing to pay $878,000 in legal fees.
On September 17, 2024, three judges at Manhattan's Second US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Mawell's five convictions and sentence. In response, her lawyers said she would appeal to the US Supreme Court.
This is how her case got to the Supreme Court of the United States.
She still faces perjury charges about lying during a civil trial in 2015 about Epstein's abuse of underage girls.
On Monday, the Department of Justice urged the Supreme Court to not take up Maxwell's appeal. Her contention is that the plea deal with Epstein in 2007, which also said that co-conspirators would not be prosecuted, was broken with her case, and is sufficient cause to overturn her conviction. A district court and a federal appeals court have already rejected that argument.
Trump's former defense lawyer, now US Solicitor General, D. John Sauer, argued, "That contention is incorrect, and petitioner does not show that it would succeed in any court of appeals."
Maxwell's lawyers say that while Epstein's plea deal covered only the protection from the federal Southern District of Florida, the language of the co-conspirator clause should cover any federal district.
That clause reads that if "Epstein successfully fulfills all of the terms and conditions of this agreement, the United States also agrees that it will not Institute any criminal charges against any potential co-conspirators of Epstein, including, but not limited to" four of Epstein's assistants. Maxwell was not among the four women named. Score one point for the government.
The government also contends that the U.S. Attorney's office in Florida, run by R. Alexander Acosta, who resigned over this while Secretary of Labor, did not intend to bind other Federal districts and had no authority to do so without the approval of those districts or the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice. Maybe score one point for Maxwell. The plea deal was made. Epstein did fulfill the terms and conditions of the agreement. The government can't just giveth and then taketh it away.
Sauer said that at best, the non-prosecution covers "at most, an incidental third party beneficiary of the agreement. The government was not even aware of [Maxwell's] role in Epstein's scheme at that time." That would have to be a bald-faced lie. How could they possibly have talked to Epstein's victims without knowing about Maxwell? Score one point for Maxwell.
Maxwell's attorney, David Oscar Markus wrote, "I'd be surprised if President Trump knew his lawyers were asking the Supreme Court let the government break a deal. He's the ultimate deal maker --- and I'm sure he'd agree that when the United States gives its word, it should keep it. With all the talk about who's being prosecuted, and who isn't, it's especially unfair that Ghislaine Maxwell is in prison based on an agreement the government made and broke."
There are the decisions of the circuit and appeals courts turning her reasoning down. A writ of certiorari has been filed with the Supreme Court. They aren't in session until October, but they have been acting on Trump appeals. They could either turn it down or take it up now, or in October.
Ghislaine's family is ready to file a writ of haebeus corpus, saying that new evidence, such as the government misconduct on the plea deal, makes her deserving of an immediate court appearance, because that would have changed the trial's outcome.
Epstein's former lawyer, David Schoen, says he doesn't believe that there is a client list. "That wasn't Jeffrey Epstein. Despite all these rumors and stories and so on, he had no plan for blackmail." Lawyer Alan Dershowitz, who helped Epstein get the plea deal, said, "There is no client list and never has been a client list. There is a redacted FBI affidavit from accusers." He said that judges are withholding the names, not the Trump Administration.
Reps Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie introduced a discharge petition Tuesday, that will force a vote on the House floor to make the government release all the files. 218 Representatives have to sign on to get it to the floor. Republicans in the Rules Committee yesterday shot down an amendment to take the issue in front of the whole House. The Democrats were joined by Republican Rep. Norman. Later on Tuesday, Speaker Mike Johnson, in a dramatic shift, also said that the Epstein files should be released.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump said yesterday that Attorney General Pam Bondi should release "whatever she thinks is credible, she should release." When asked if Pam Bondi had told him whether his name appeared in any of the records, he said, "No, no. Only really bad people, including the fake news, want to keep something like this going."
The right wing, from Tucker Carlson to Alex Jones are totally in favor of the Epstein files being released. MAGA wants them released. They have been waiting for years for the conspiracy of an elite sex cabal to come to light, and they will not be denied now. Even on Trump's Truth Social post on Saturday, a mile long, Truth Social users made more comments than likes. Comments were not favorable. Trump has been ratioed.
Rep. Tim Burchett has turned into a pretzel. When asked by CNN's Manu Raju, "You don't believe what the DOJ is saying about Epstein?" Burchett responded, "No, I don't. I don't trust them."
Yes. Why did he vote against releasing them? Will he and others change their minds as Speaker Mike Johnson has? And now Trump has said that relevant information should be released. Fox News had suddenly stop talking about the Epstein files on Monday and Tuesday. Where will they be today after Trump and Johnson made their statements?
Along with Burchett and many other Republican politicians and right leaning news media, they're having a terrible time deciding which way to go on the Epstein files, from day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute.
After seeing not just the list of evidence, but a box completely full of hard disk drives, it's hard to not say that something is not on them. I'm not sure what to make of Epstein's lawyers saying there's no there there. There's digital and photographic files available of his black books, and probably Ghislaine's as well. We know that the FBI possesses two of them. 1500 entries at least, in one of them found by a reporter. That's an awfully long phone book for anyone. There's also his Rolodex.
So, nobody in the public eye, no politician, no celebrity is in these black books? Digital copies are out there to read. One had a handwritten inside page with Ghislaine's address, phone number, password to her voicemail, email, password to her email and a bunch of other people with similar details. Maybe there is no separate "client list," as Epsteins lawyers contend. But we have that statement from Pam Bondi on Feb. 21st that the "client list" was sitting on her desk. Why would she use that term if it wasn't one?
The story of the Epstein files has gone through three stages. 1) The Epstein files are real and important. 2) The Epstein files don't actually exist, so move on. 3) The Epstein files do exist, but they're fake. Which one is it?
Sex trafficking has to include the person the girls were trafficked to. What about the girls' testimony in Maxwell's case?
Then there's that 150 pages of grand jury transcripts that was released. Names are redacted. Dialogue between individuals is detailed.
Ghislaine Maxwell could tell us all a lot. While she still has a case to be made at the Supreme Court, that isn't going to happen.
Pam Bondi and the DOJ are looking like they're hiding something. Somebody told Bondi to say that there's nothing to be seen. There's only one person that could be doing that, and it's Donald Trump. Yesterday, when questioned about it in a different setting, she refused to say anything about it. She was there for a totally different purpose than to answer questions about Epstein and the files.
With the hidden video cameras and recording systems at Epstein's residences, especially on his island, there are girls and clients that could be identified. The tens of thousands of videos that Bondi described as being child porn that Epstein downloaded off the internet, doesn't make sense. He had his own collection to look at of what he recorded at his residences.
Ghislaine Maxwell doesn't need to talk. The evidence can do that for her.
_______________________________
No sooner do I post after working for hours on this, but lo and behold, Trump has changed his mind about the Epstein files again.
First, he rails at Republicans not sticking with him. Now it's the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and it's bullsh*t. He's so successful that nobody should be talking about the Epstein files. Then, without saying MAGA, he says people have been fooled by the fake news about Jeffrey Epstein. He doesn't even want their support anymore. Wow!
Watching Chris Hayes on MSNBC, Trump's DOJ just fired Maureen Comey, former FBI Director James Comey's daughter. She was on the prosecution team on Epstein and Maxwell. News confirmed. This is so incredibly crazy. A source of information fired.
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