Hi there, everyone. It's four o'clock in the east on a day when Donald Trump has quite literally scraped the very bottom of that dirty barrel in a desperate attempt to change the subject.

For our part, we are not going to take the bait because we got as clear an admission as any that Donald Trump has tried and failed

to turn the page on the furor from his own supporters over Jeffrey Epstein. That news came in the

form of an announcement that the Justice Department was reaching out to jailed Epstein

Associate and Epstein's former girlfriend, Galane Maxwell. Deputy A.G. Todd Blanche, writing this, quote,

at the direction of Attorney General Pam Bondi,

I have communicated with counsel for Ms. Maxwell

to determine whether she would be willing

to speak with prosecutors from the department.

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.

So who is Galane Maxwell and how does she feature in the Epstein case? Well, Maxwell is serving

a 20-year sentence in federal prison. She was convicted in 2021 on charges of sex trafficking and other counts.

Ahead of sentencing, prosecutors said this about her that she, quote, prayed on vulnerable young girls,

manipulated them and served them up to be sexually abused by Epstein. But if the Trump DOJ now seeking to meet with Maxwell is a case of Trump thinking he's

going to throw his very angry base of supporters a bone, the decision to talk to her actually

raises more questions than it answers. Did Trump's Justice Department try to close the book on

Epstein without talking to his closest confidant and associate.

The New York Times reports that in April, quote, Maxwell asked the Supreme Court to hear an

appeal of her criminal conviction. In her brief to the court, she argued that a 2007 agreement

by federal prosecutors in Florida barred her criminal prosecution. Under the agreement, government lawyers

...