The United States Department of Justice released on Friday more than 300 pages of transcripts documenting the extensive interview between Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted of sex trafficking and known for her relationship with financier Jeffrey Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019.
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The interview took place in a federal prison in Florida, where Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence for trafficking minors in the pedophilia network led by Epstein.
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The publication coincides with the delivery of thousands of documents related to the Epstein Case to the House Oversight Committee, which plans to make them public once any content involving child sexual abuse or identifying victims has been removed.
Blanche’s visit occurred weeks ago amid questioning of Donald Trump’s management of the scandals arising from the case and his proximity to Epstein.
One of Ghislaine Maxwell’s main statements is that she was not aware of any “client list” of Epstein, a claim that clashes with the statements made by Trump during the presidential campaign. On July 7, the Department of Justice also dismissed the existence of such a supposed list, causing a sharp rift between the Republican president and his MAGA movement base.
What did Maxwell say about Trump’s relationship with Epstein?
During the conversation, Blanche assured that the interview was not part of a cooperation agreement, although he mentioned that Maxwell was granted immunity for whatever she revealed during the talk. However, he warned her that any false statement could lead to criminal consequences.
Maxwell, who is seeking for the Supreme Court to review her conviction, was asked about her first encounter with the current president Donald Trump. Maxwell commented that it probably happened in 1990. She remembered that her father, British businessman Robert Maxwell, had a good relationship with the current president of the United States, whom she described as “cordial and very kind.”
Maxwell commented that Trump and Epstein “seemed like friends,” but that she “only saw them in social settings.” She also stated that she never saw him act “inappropriately” or in suspicious situations with Epstein.
Regarding the accusations made by Virginia Giuffre, who claimed that Maxwell recruited her at Mar-a-Lago club to offer massages to Epstein, the woman sentenced to 20 years in prison denied having known her in that context. She stated that she has no recollection of recruiting anyone from Mar-a-Lago.
Trump had recently stated that he had cut ties with Epstein after discovering that he was hiring staff from the club, including Giuffre.
Todd Blanche was the lawyer who defended Trump in the trial for the payment to silence a porn actress. After the interview of the deputy attorney general with Maxwell, Epstein’s accomplice, she was transferred from Tallahassee, Florida, to a federal low-security prison for women in the state of Texas.
Mention Clinton, Prince Andrew, and other well-known names.
In another part of the interview, Maxwell talked about her friendship with former President Bill Clinton, clarifying that he was her friend, not Epstein’s. She recounted being invited to Chelsea Clinton’s wedding and denied that the former president received massages while with Epstein. She admitted that Clinton traveled on Epstein’s private plane but denied that he visited his private island.
She also referred to Prince Andrew of the United Kingdom, who has been involved in accusations of sexual abuse made by Virginia Giuffre. Maxwell dismissed as “rubbish” any insinuation that she facilitated encounters between Andrew and underage individuals. She strongly denied being an accomplice to any illicit activity related to the prince.
Maxwell was questioned about Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the current Health Secretary in the Trump administration. She pointed out that she knew Kennedy because they had traveled together on an expedition, but she assured that she had never witnessed any inappropriate behavior from him.
The personal and professional relationship with Epstein
Maxwell reported that she met Epstein in 1991 and that their intimate relationship began a year later. She indicated that, although she was romantically involved with him, she never knew about the existence of other partners until flight records were publicly revealed years later. She stated that their romantic relationship ended in 1999, although they maintained an intermittent friendship until Epstein’s death in 2019.
According to her testimony, she continued to receive payments from Epstein for years, starting with $25,000 annually and reaching $250,000 in 2009, when the relationship between them deteriorated.
She acknowledged having helped Epstein find people to give him massages, but insisted that all of them were adults and hired from legitimate spas. Maxwell maintained that she never suspected these individuals were employed for sexual purposes and that it would have never crossed her mind that such exploitation existed.