The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced one of its top officials has sought a meeting with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s imprisoned associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, amid continued scrutiny of President Donald Trump’s handling of the case.

On Tuesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi released a statement from her deputy, Todd Blanche, who explained that he is pursuing a meeting with Maxwell to ensure transparency in the government’s Epstein investigation.

“This Department of Justice does not shy away from uncomfortable truths, nor from the responsibility to pursue justice wherever the facts may lead,” Blanche said.

“President Trump has told us to release all credible evidence. If Ghislane Maxwell has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the DOJ will hear what she has to say.”

Blanche’s statement comes as the Trump administration weathers a backlash from his base over the Epstein scandal.

On July 7, the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued a memo saying a review of Epstein’s case yielded no new evidence, including no “client list”.

But that finding caused an uproar among Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) base, which noted that Bondi herself had referred to a client list “sitting on my desk right now” earlier this year.

Members of Trump’s base have long embraced conspiracy theories about rings of sex offenders in the highest levels of government, and some have questioned the circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death, speculating that it was an orchestrated cover-up.

According to authorities, the billionaire financier — who had a powerful social circle — committed suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 as he awaited trial on sex-trafficking charges.

Maxwell, a close confidant and former girlfriend of Epstein’s, has been imprisoned since her 2021 conviction on five federal charges related to her role in the sexual abuse of underage girls.

Blanche said he has “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,” he added.

A lawyer for Maxwell, David Oscar Markus, confirmed her legal team was “in discussions with the government and that Ghislaine will always testify truthfully”.

“We are grateful to President Trump for his commitment to uncovering the truth in this case. We have no other comment at this time,” he said.

The update comes after Trump last week instructed Bondi and Blanche to ask a federal court to unseal grand jury transcripts in both the cases of Epstein and Maxwell.

Trump had supported the FBI and Justice Department in their assessment earlier this month, which failed to produce any new incriminating evidence about any of the high-profile politicians and businessmen in Epstein’s orbit.

One of the conspiracy theories circulating about the case is that Epstein used his sex-trafficking ring to blackmail powerful figures, though the July memo splashed cold water on that assertion.

“This systematic review revealed no incriminating ‘client list’,” the memo said. “There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions.”

The situation has drawn renewed scrutiny to Trump’s own years-long relationship with Epstein, as high-profile members of the MAGA base denounced the results of the memo as unsatisfying and inconclusive.

The president has attempted to dismiss the outcry, calling the controversy the “Epstein hoax” and denouncing his supporters as “weaklings” for perpetuating it.

That did little to stem the outrage from some of the most influential voices in the MAGA movement, who have called on Bondi to resign.

Earlier this year, Bondi vowed that the Justice Department would release additional materials, including “a lot of names” and “a lot of flight logs” in connection with Epstein’s clients.

However, the information that the department has released since Trump took office has shed no new light on the case.

Trump himself has had to contend with media reports over his ties to Epstein. He recently filed a lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal after the newspaper reported on a “bawdy” letter Trump allegedly wrote to Epstein for his 50th birthday.

Several of Trump’s top officials have themselves spent years fuelling speculation over the Epstein files, including FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino.

A Brazilian Supreme Court justice has threatened to detain former President Jair Bolsonaro.

The judge, Alexandre de Moraes, accused Bolsonaro of breaching a ban which bars him from appearing in audios, videos and interviews shared on social media.

Justice Moraes said the ex-president could face “immediate imprisonment” unless his lawyers could provide a satisfactory explanation within 24 hours as to why their client had appeared in a video shared by Bolsonaro’s son, Eduardo, on Monday.

Bolsonaro is on trial for allegedly plotting a coup to prevent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from taking office in 2023, which he denies.

Moraes has been leading the investigation into allegations Bolsonaro and his allies committed “antidemocratic acts”.

Moraes had already imposed a raft of restrictions on Bolsonaro on Friday, including a night-time and a weekend curfew, as well as 24-hour surveillance, to prevent him from fleeing the country while he is on trial.

Bolsonaro has also been ordered to refrain from contacting foreign governments and their embassies in Brazil.

Furthermore, the ex-president has to wear an electronic ankle tag and is barred from communicating with Eduardo, who has been lobbying on his father’s behalf in the United States.

Bolsonaro insists that he has never considered leaving Brazil and called Justice Moraes a “dictator”.

The measures were ordered by Moraes following a request from the federal police and with the endorsement of Brazil’s Attorney-General’s Office.

Police had earlier accused Bolsonaro and his son of trying to obstruct the trial against the ex-president and of violating Brazil’s sovereignty by encouraging the US government to interfere in the trial.

On Monday, Moraes gave further details of the restrictions, explaining that Bolsonaro was not just barred from appearing in videos and audios that he himself shared on social media, but also from appearing in those shared or published by third parties.

Shortly after that, Bolsonaro spoke to journalists as he was leaving Congress, where he had met opposition lawmakers.

He showed them his electronic ankle tag, calling it “a symbol of the utmost humiliation”.

Footage of the interaction was shared on social media by Eduardo Bolsonaro and supporters of his father, in what Moraes says was a breach of the restrictions he had imposed.

The trial of Jair Bolsonaro, who governed Brazil from January 2019 to December 2022, is being closely followed by US President Donald Trump, who has denounced it as a “witch hunt”.

The two men are long-time allies and earlier this month, Trump threatened to slap a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods starting on 1 August.

In his letter to the current Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Trump cited Brazil’s treatment of Bolsonaro as a trigger for the tariff hike.

Tension between the two governments rose further on Friday, when – in response to the restrictions imposed on Bolsonaro – the Trump administration revoked the US visa of Moraes and other Supreme Court justices.

President Lula called it an “arbitrary and completely baseless measure” and denounced “the interference of one country in another’s justice system”.