Trump ‘did nothing of concern around me’: Ghislaine Maxwell
Ghislaine Maxwell has defended Donald Trump in her interviews with Deputy Attorney-General Todd Blanche, saying she never saw him doing anything “of concern”.
Ghislaine Maxwell has defended Donald Trump in her interviews with Deputy Attorney-General Todd Blanche, saying she never saw him doing anything “that would cause concern”.
During two days of questioning over her relationships with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and other high-profile men including the US President, Maxwell told Mr Blanche she had no evidence that would incriminate Mr Trump, America’s ABC reports.
Epstein’s former girlfriend insisted Mr Trump did nothing in her presence “that would cause concern”, according to the broadcaster.
The news comes as Vice-President JD Vance convenes a strategy meeting of senior Trump officials at his residence to discuss the ongoing fallout from the Epstein case.
The meeting will probe whether the Trump administration should publish an audio recording and transcript of Mr Blanche’s recent conversation with Maxwell, US media reports.
White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, Attorney-General Pam Bondi, FBI director Kash Patel and Mr Blanche were expected to attend.
Maxwell, 63, is serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted in 2021 of recruiting underage girls for Epstein, who died in a New York jail in 2019 awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
Maxwell met late last month with Mr Blanche, Mr Trump’s former personal lawyer, but he has not revealed what was discussed.
Mr Trump was asked this week about the meeting and said it was “not an uncommon thing” and was “totally above board”.
“I think (Blanche) probably wants to make sure that, you know, people that should not be involved, or aren’t involved, are not hurt by something that would be very, very unfortunate, very unfair to a lot of people,” he said.
Mr Trump also told reporters he was not aware of Maxwell’s recent move from a prison in Florida to a minimum-security facility in Texas until after it happened.
His supporters have been obsessed with the Epstein case for years and have been up in arms since the FBI and Justice Department said last month that the wealthy financier had committed suicide while in jail, did not blackmail any prominent figures, and did not keep a “client list”.
In a bid to calm the furore, the Justice Department is also seeking the release of the grand jury transcripts from the cases against Epstein and Maxwell.
Maxwell asked a judge this week to reject a Justice Department request to unseal the grand jury transcripts.
“Jeffrey Epstein is dead. Ghislaine Maxwell is not,” Maxwell’s lawyers said in a filing with the federal judge in New York who is considering the government request.
“Whatever interest the public may have in Epstein, that interest cannot justify a broad intrusion into grand jury secrecy in a case where the defendant is alive, her legal options are viable, and her due process rights remain.”
Republican nomination
The strategy meeting comes after Mr Trump suggested Mr Vance was “most likely” to secure the Republican Party nomination for president in 2028.
Asked whether Mr Vance was the heir apparent to his Make America Great Again movement, Mr Trump told reporters: “Well, I think most likely. In all fairness, he’s the Vice-President.”
The remarks followed speculation that Mr Trump might attempt to defy constitutional limits and seek a third term.
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