'WOWOW': DOJ gets constitutional reality check as Maxwell interview swipe backfires badly

The Trump Justice Department went after Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) for criticizing Attorney General Todd Blanche’s interview with Ghislaine Maxwell. A national security journalist quickly turned the attack back on the department.

The fight started after House Judiciary Committee Democrats released a 50-page report this week accusing the Trump administration of covering up President Donald Trump’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein. The report says Blanche, during his July 2025 interviews with Maxwell, repeatedly steered her away from discussing a Jane Doe whose allegations about Trump were known to the FBI, The New Republic reported. According to the report, Blanche “cut her off and instructed her not to share specifics.” Trump has denied wrongdoing related to Epstein.

Lieu, a member of the Judiciary Committee, shared the New Republic story and urged people to read the report.

“@AGToddBlanche is a monster,” Lieu wrote. “November is coming.”

The DOJ’s official rapid response account fired back Thursday morning.

“Looks like these fake news outlets didn’t read the full 497 pages of the transcript - and apparently Ted doesn’t know what a proffer is either,” the account wrote. It added that “career prosecutors and agents in SDNY, including Maureen Comey herself, oversaw investigations into the ‘evidence’ @tedlieu presents in his report.”

Comey, a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan, helped convict Maxwell in 2021. She was fired by the Trump administration last year.

Marcy Wheeler, a national security journalist who runs the blog Emptywheel, wasn’t impressed.

“WOWOW. @DOJRR47 doesn’t know how the Fifth Amendment works,” Wheeler wrote.

She argued that Maxwell would never have testified against herself before her trial, so a genuine proffer would have aimed to get information out of her after her conviction. Blanche, she said, did the opposite.

“Ghislaine wasn’t going to testify about the girls she helped rape before prosecution. AN ACTUAL PROFFER would have encouraged her to do so after conviction,” Wheeler wrote. “@AGToddBlanche AFFIRMATIVELY refused that information.”

Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking. After the Blanche interviews, she was moved to a lower-security prison camp in Texas.

WOWOW. @DOJRR47 doesn't know how the Fifth Amendment works.Ghislaine wasn't going to testify about the girls she helped rape before prosecution. AN ACTUAL PROFFER would have encouraged her to do so after conviction. @AGToddBlanche AFFIRMATIVELY refused that information.
— EU says Elon should not lie abt my blue check (@emptywheel) October 29, 2026