Turley Identifies What ‘Skeptical’ Public Needs To ‘Quell’ Doubts About DOJ Interviewing Maxwell

George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said Tuesday on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” that the best way to overcome the public’s skepticism about the “Epstein files” is to provide “near total transparency” when the Department of Justice (DOJ) potentially interviews convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.

In a statement posted on Attorney General Pam Bondi’s X account Tuesday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced he would meet with Maxwell to discuss potential evidence in deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s case “in the coming days.” Turley was asked for his thoughts about the DOJ’s decision to sit down with Maxwell.

“Well, there’s a certain degree of emergency management going on here. The administration wants to show the public it’s doing everything it can to release any information that might still be withheld. The problem is that some of us are rather skeptical that there is something significant with Maxwell being withheld,” Turley said. “If so, the expiration date on this milk ran [out] a long time ago.”

Maxwell was found guilty in June 2022 of “a scheme to sexually exploit and abuse multiple minor girls” with Epstein “over the course of a decade,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Her 20-year prison sentence followed Epstein’s 2019 arrest and subsequent death roughly a month later in New York’s Metropolitan Correctional Center. (RELATED: ‘Bizarre Allocation Of Resources’: CNN’s Elie Honig Says Deputy AG Interviewing Maxwell In Person Comes With Dangers)

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“She’s been interviewed repeatedly by the Justice Department. She’s had interactions with other legal teams. It would be very surprising if she was holding on to something that was a game changer,” Turley added. “But the problem is that this is the type of scandal that the public simply is skeptical of getting the interpretation of evidence as opposed to the evidence itself. The only thing that is likely to quell some of these doubts is near total transparency.”

The Trump administration and DOJ have faced weeks of backlash from Republicans over the department’s and FBI’s handling of the Epstein case. Criticism ramped up after the DOJ quietly released a memo, first obtained by Axios on July 6, saying the FBI found no evidence of a “client list” or foul play in Epstein’s death.

Questions have swirled around over 10 hours of “raw and enhanced” surveillance footage from outside Epstein’s cell the night of his reported suicide, as well as Bondi’s past comments about a potential list of names tied to Epstein. While some Republicans have called for Bondi’s resignation, President Donald Trump has repeatedly defended her work.

The Wall Street Journal published a report alleging Trump sent Epstein a suggestive birthday letter in 2003. After that, the president, on Thursday, called for Bondi to “produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval.”

In Blanche’s announcement, the deputy attorney general said that the DOJ “does not shy away from uncomfortable truths, nor from the responsibility to pursue justice wherever the facts may lead,” adding that the department still stands with the facts of the memo. Blanche continued to write that he had communicated with Maxwell’s counsel.

“I anticipate meeting with Ms. Maxwell in the coming days.  Until now, no administration on behalf of the Department had inquired about her willingness to meet with the government.  That changes now,” Blanche wrote.

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