WASHINGTON − Lawyers for Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell continue to push for the Supreme Court to overturn her 2021 sex trafficking conviction as they also seek President Donald Trump’s help.
In a July 28 filing in Maxwell’s pending Supreme Court appeal, her lawyers argue the Justice Department is seeking a “blank check” to rewrite a 2007 plea agreement with Epstein they say should have protected Maxwell from prosecution.
Her case, Maxwell’s attorneys wrote, “is about what the government promised, not what Epstein did.”
In addition to her Supreme Court petition, Maxwell’s lawyers also had a message for Trump.
“We are appealing not only to the Supreme Court but to the President himself to recognize how profoundly unjust it is to scapegoat Ghislaine Maxwell for Epstein’s crimes, especially when the government promised she would not be prosecuted,” attorney David Oscar Markus said on social media.
Markus made the comments days after Maxwell met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche over two days last week in Florida to answer questions about Epstein.
More: Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell questioned by DOJ about ‘everything,’ lawyer says
Critics have said the meetings with Blanche, the nation’s No. 2 law enforcement official and Trump’s former personal defense lawyer, were part of a White House effort to quell the backlash over the administration’s handling of thousands of pages of Epstein-related files in its possession.
Trump told reporters July 28 he’s “allowed” to pardon Maxwell, but “it would be inappropriate to talk about it.”
More: Trump says he’s ‘allowed’ to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell and he never went to Epstein’s island
The Supreme Court could decide in late September whether to consider Maxwell’s appeal.
Epstein’s plea agreement with federal prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida, which many have criticized as overly lenient, included a provision protecting potential co-conspirators from criminal charges. Epstein was allowed to plead guilty to two state prostitution offenses and received a sentence of just 18 months.
The Justice Department says the prosecution against Maxwell didn’t run afoul of that deal because the deal only applied to prosecutions in the Southern District of Florida. Maxwell was prosecuted in the Southern District of New York, where she was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Markus, her attorney, said the government “cannot promise immunity with one hand in Florida and prosecute with the other in New York.”
“President Trump built his legacy in part on the power of a deal,” he said on social media, “and surely he would agree that when the United States gives its word, it must stand by it.”
Contributing: Aysha Bagchi and Josh Meyer
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ghislaine Maxwell refutes DOJ’s view of Epstein plea deal
