Justice Department weighs release of Ghislaine Maxwell interview

The Justice Department is weighing the release of the audio file and transcript of Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche's interview late last month with Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, senior administration officials told Fox News - the latest in a nearly month-long saga that has consumed the Trump administration and the attention of the public since early July. 

Blanche's interviews with Ghislaine Maxwell took place over a two-day period in Florida, where she had been serving out a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee, Florida. 

The questions took place at the U.S. Attorney's office in Tallahassee.

Maxwell was transferred last week without explanation to a new, minimum-security women's federal prison camp in Texas.

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It is unclear how long the tape and transcripts from the interviews between Blanche and Maxwell are, but they do exist, Fox News has learned, and discussions are underway today involving whether - and when - to release them. 

Anything released by the Trump administration would almost certainly involve heavily redacting any identifying information of individuals named in the transcript in order to protect victims- something Attorney General Pam Bondi has stressed in public on multiple occasions.

The Justice Department declined to comment on additional specifics involving the interview or its release.

Still, the news comes as the Justice Department and FBI have struggled to quell the mounting public pressure on them to release more information related to the Epstein investigation- underscoring the story's sticking power in a fast-moving news cycle, and among Trump supporters, who have been some of the leading voices in demanding the information be released.

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This pressure reached a fever pitch on July 7, after the Justice Department said in an unsigned memo that it did not plan to release more information about the investigation. They also said there was no "client list," as had been suggested. 

In the face of mounting public protest, Tuesday's news makes clear the degree to which the Trump administration appears to be rethinking that response to the fallout.

Trump, for his part, has called for the Justice Department to release "all credible" evidence in the files. 

"We'd like to release everything, but we don't want people to get hurt that shouldn't be hurt, and I would assume that was why he was there," he told Newsmax late last week.

Also on Tuesday, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer issued multiple subpoenas related to the Epstein investigation, including subpoenaing the Justice Department for production of the "complete" Epstein files to the committee "by or before August 19," according to a letter.

The House Oversight Committee subcommittee panel also subpoenaed former government officials for depositions in the Epstein probe, including Bill and Hillary Clinton. 

The panel voted by unanimous voice vote in late July to subpoena the individuals, and held a separate vote on subpoenaing the Justice Departent. 

Fox News's Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.