U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche met for roughly six hours on Thursday with Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking, at the U.S. attorney’s office in Tallahassee, Florida. The session marks the first time the Justice Department has formally questioned the 63-year-old former associate of Jeffrey Epstein since her 2021 conviction. Blanche sought information that could assist the department’s continuing review of the Epstein case, a process accelerated after public and congressional criticism of the DOJ’s refusal earlier this month to release additional investigative files. On Wednesday the House Oversight Committee issued a subpoena for Maxwell to testify before lawmakers in August, and bipartisan calls have grown in the Senate for hearings on the handling of Epstein-related records. After Thursday’s meeting, Maxwell’s attorney David Oscar Markus said his client "answered every single question" and did not invoke any privilege. Blanche described the discussion as productive and said the interview will resume on Friday, adding that the department will disclose its findings "at the appropriate time." No commitments regarding sentence reduction or other concessions have been made, according to Markus.