Overview

• Senators Dick Durbin and Sheldon Whitehouse formally asked the DOJ on July 28 for full access to recordings and transcripts of Ghislaine Maxwell’s July 24–25 interviews.
• The lawmakers insisted the department publicly commit to offering no pardon or sentence commutation in exchange for Maxwell’s cooperation.
• Durbin called it “highly unusual, if not unprecedented” for Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to conduct the interviews instead of career prosecutors.
• Maxwell, serving a 20-year sentence, met with Blanche under limited immunity and has filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to review her 2021 conviction.
• The Justice Department has acknowledged receipt of the letter but has not responded publicly, while President Trump says he could pardon Maxwell but has not made a decision.