President Donald Trump said Friday he was not considering granting clemency to Ghislaine Maxwell, a former associate of deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein, as she met for a second consecutive day with a senior Justice Department official for an hours-long interview in Florida.

An attorney for Maxwell said she “answered every single question” posed by Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general. Blanche finished his interview with her early Friday afternoon, the lawyer said, adding that Maxwell did not seek or agree to any deal with the Trump administration.

“We haven’t asked for anything,” the attorney, David Oscar Markus, told reporters after the interview Friday. “There’s been no asks and no promises.”

Speaking to reporters earlier in the day, Trump was asked if he would grant Maxwell a pardon or commute her sentence. He said he had not considered it. “It’s something I haven’t thought about. It’s really — it’s not recommended,” he said. “It’s something I’m allowed to do, but it’s something I have not thought of.”

Rick Wilson
@TheRickWilson

Donald Trump‘s visit to the Federal Reserve with Jerome Powell and Tim Scott yesterday was an important reason to remember that Donald Trump is in the Epstein files.

Gaza is suffering man-made mass starvation caused by the blockade of aid into the territory, the head of the World Health Organization has said, as more than 100 agencies urged Israel to let supplies in to alleviate the crisis.

“I don’t know what you would call it other than mass starvation, and it’s man-made, and that’s very clear,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual press conference from Geneva. “This is because of [the] blockade.”

A letter signed by 109 agencies including Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam International and Amnesty International says the Israeli government is blocking humanitarian organisations from effectively distributing life-saving aid.

“Just outside Gaza, in warehouses – and even within Gaza itself – tonnes of food, clean water, medical supplies, shelter items and fuel sit untouched with humanitarian organisations blocked from accessing or delivering them,” the agencies wrote. “The government of Israel’s restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation, and death.”

An ex-girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein has resurfaced her claim that Donald Trump “groped” her during a meeting with the sex trafficker in the early 1990s, saying the alleged incident left her “frozen” and “in shock”.

Stacey Williams, now 57, dated Epstein more than 30 years ago, long before he was first arrested for his sex crimes. The incident she recalls, allegedly involving Mr Trump, happened in 1993. She spoke about it before last year’s presidential election, and is now bringing attention to it again amid the renewed controversy around the Epstein files.