WASHINGTON (BN24) — Vice President JD Vance is expected to convene a closed-door meeting Wednesday evening with senior Trump administration officials to map out the White House’s next moves in the politically charged Jeffrey Epstein scandal, according to multiple media reports.
CNN and ABC News, citing sources familiar with the matter, said the strategy session at Vance’s residence will include Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. The officials are set to discuss whether to release the Justice Department’s transcript of its recent two-day interview with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime associate and convicted sex trafficker.
Blanche — a former personal lawyer to President Donald Trump — met with Maxwell late last month at the government’s request. Details of the conversation have not been made public, but administration officials are reportedly weighing the possibility of making the transcript public as early as this week.
The calls for transparency have grown louder. On Wednesday, model and actress Alicia Arden, who in 1997 filed a police report accusing Epstein of sexual assault, urged the administration at a news conference to release all Epstein-related files.
“I’m tired of the government saying that they want to release them. Please just do it,” Arden said, adding that she wanted to know exactly what Blanche asked Maxwell — and what Maxwell’s answers were. “She was convicted of sex-trafficking children. This is a terrible crime. She should not be pardoned.”
Arden’s attorney, Gloria Allred, echoed the demand, urging the release of “the entire transcript, including all of his questions and all of her answers.” Allred also called for Congress to invite Epstein and Maxwell’s victims to testify before House and Senate committees, detailing their abuse, the impact on their lives, and their experiences with the criminal justice system.
Maxwell, convicted in December 2021 of sex trafficking and other charges, is serving a 20-year sentence and has appealed her case to the U.S. Supreme Court, citing Epstein’s earlier plea deal. Her attorneys this week opposed the Justice Department’s request to unseal related grand jury transcripts, arguing that revealing the secret testimony would infringe on her due process rights while her legal options remain active.
The controversy intensified after Maxwell was quietly transferred last week from a Florida federal prison to a lower-security facility in Texas. Trump told reporters he was unaware of the move.
The administration is also facing bipartisan backlash over the Justice Department’s recent announcement that it would not release additional Epstein documents despite Trump and Bondi’s earlier pledges.
On Tuesday, the House Oversight Committee subpoenaed the Justice Department for Epstein files and ordered sworn depositions from a list of prominent figures, including former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former attorneys general Jeff Sessions, Alberto Gonzales, William Barr and Merrick Garland, and former FBI directors James Comey and Robert Mueller.
Notably absent from the subpoena list is Trump’s former labor secretary, Alex Acosta, who brokered Epstein’s controversial 2008 plea deal as a U.S. attorney in Florida. Allred said Acosta, along with Bondi and Blanche, should also be called to testify.
Maxwell has indicated she is willing to testify before Congress if granted immunity. Meanwhile, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., has introduced a resolution opposing any presidential pardon or clemency for her. “The vast majority of Americans oppose any form of clemency for Maxwell,” Krishnamoorthi told CNN, “and we need to say that with one voice in Congress.”
The White House did not respond to questions Tuesday about the planned meeting at Vance’s home.
Source: theguardian
