A resurfaced podcast catches Donald Trump’s Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche laughing as he recounts a chance meeting with Jeffrey Epstein hours after the pedophile was arrested.
The tape, shared by the Daily Beast’s Michael Daly, was revealed as Blanche was set to start a second day of interviews with Epstein’s convicted partner Ghislaine Maxwell.
The conversation happened in 2023 on the “For the Defense” podcast that was hosted by defense attorney David O. Markus, who was himself involved in representing Maxwell during bail hearings.
Blanche recalled going to Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center in 2019 to visit a client, Republican adviser Paul Manafort, who had been arrested on fraud charges.
“What happened was a very funny story,” Blanche said.
“I walked in the visiting area, and there’s three rooms when you walk in that, the attorney conference area at the MCC in Lower Manhattan. Glass windows, so the guards can observe what’s happening and they can’t hear, but they can observe.
“And I walk in, and I see Mr. Manafort right in the middle waiting for me. They had brought him in before I’d arrived. And to the left, when I’m facing him, is Jeffrey Epstein.
“And he had just gotten arrested, and he had a bail argument the very next day in front of Judge Berma. And there were two lawyers there visiting with him, presumably getting ready for that argument. And then I looked to the right, and to the right is El Chapo.”
The chance encounters with two of the most sensational criminals of recent times left the two laughing.
“I remember thinking to myself, that, and I thought to myself, hundreds times, that this a crazy life, right?” Blanche said.
“I mean, I went to night law school, you know, I worked during the day, you know, [and] here I am, sitting in in this prison on a Sunday morning. My wife went to Little Italy to wait for me so we could have lunch afterwards. And then I see El Chapo. And then I see Mr. Epstein. And then I see Paul Manafort.”
Markus added, “What a crazy story.”
Blanche interviewed Maxwell for much of the day Thursday as the Trump administration remains mired in a controversy over a client list that many believe links Epstein to powerful people.
It’s unknown what the two talked about, but Blanche announced it had been “productive” and that the conversation would resume Friday.
