Ghislaine Maxwell may have found a way out of Florida prison, but she's not getting a new trial, Supreme Court rules
News and views for Florida's Left Coast
Jeffrey Epstein’s girlfriend and pimp, Ghislaine Maxwell, may have wangled her way out of a Florida prison to a Club Fed in Texas, but she’s not getting a new trial on her sex trafficking convictions.
The U.S. Supreme Court reconvened for its new session this morning, and one of its first acts was to deny Maxwell’s appeal.
Maxwell’s lawyers argued that under a plea agreement Epstein reached in Florida years earlier, the government promised not to prosecute any of his accomplices. It was a sweetheart deal for Epstein that has been widely criticized, and it didn’t keep him from being subsequently arrested and sent to jail where he allegedly hanged himself.
The Justice Department argued that the Florida deal did not apply to Maxwell because it was never signed off on in Washington, so it only applied to any possible prosecutions in South Florida.
The court upheld that argument.
Ironically, the Justice Department has been playing both sides of this case. Today, it argued against a new trial for Maxwell. But earlier, facing blowback from Republicans over President Donald Trump’s refusal to release the Epstein files, Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, spent a day and a half in Tallahassee interviewing Maxwell.
The files still weren’t released, but shortly thereafter, Maxwell was transferred from her Florida prison cell to a minimum-security camp in Texas that offers yoga classes and puppy therapy.
The fate of the Epstein files is still up in the air.
Adelita Grijalva, a recently elected Democratic congresswoman from Arizona, has promised that when she is sworn in, she will add her signature to a petition that will be the critical 218th name forcing a House vote to release the files.
First, she has to be sworn in, but House Speaker Mike Johnson has been delaying that for as long as possible, saying he won’t reconvene the House until the middle of October.
Never mind that the government’s been shut down and millions of Americans face crippling increases in health care insurance if Democrats fail to win their showdown in the Senate. Why should the House get back to work when all it will mean is Trump’s poodle, Johnson, may be put in the awkward position of swearing in the final vote to release whatever it is in the Epstein files that Trump’s afraid of?
What do you think? Share your views by clicking on the COMMENTS link at the end of this newsletter. Thanks!
Today is …
The Hunter’s Moon. Full moons get interesting names like this, many originating with our indigenous populations. The Hunter’s Moon was named for providing light in the autumn to make it easier for hunters to find game to store for the winter. Low lying areas may experience King Tides during this full moon due to the moon’s elliptical orbit bringing it closer to us.
Quote of the day
“The American people need to see everything that’s in the Epstein file.”
— Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer”
Florida factual
Jeffrey Epstein’s extensive criminal activity in Florida centered on his mansion in Palm Beach, where he trafficked and abused underage girls for years. A lenient 2008 plea deal with Florida prosecutors allowed him to avoid more serious charges, but resulted in his later arrest in New York and the public exposure of his crimes.
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J.C. Bruce, journalist and author, is the founder of Tropic Press. He holds dual citizenship in the United States of America and his native Florida.
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Please don’t denigrate poodles, one of the smartest and loving breeds. Johnson doesn’t deserve that high of title.
Future historians will have a ball. Of course they will recognize who Donald Trump was; to say the least, a dementia-sodden pervert a despot and of course a.. murderer with his extrajudicial killings. The trick will be to explain what the ex United States really was, because all that history will record is the naivety, the stupidity and the willingness of a population to follow and Empower such an individual.