Justice Department Releases Ghislaine Maxwell Interview Transcript
Transcripts and audio recordings of a top Justice Department official’s extensive interview with Ghislaine Maxwell – currently serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking – have been made public.
Ghislaine Maxwell says she never saw US President Donald Trump do anything inappropriate or illegal during her long relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to transcripts and audio recordings of her extensive interview with a top Justice Department official made public on Friday (local time).
During the two-day conversation last month at a courthouse in Florida, Maxwell told Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche that there was no secret list of Epstein’s clients nor a campaign to blackmail powerful people in Epstein’s orbit. When asked about Trump, who had socialised with Epstein in the past, she said she “never witnessed the President in any inappropriate setting in any way.” “The President was never inappropriate with anybody. In the times that I was with him, he was a gentleman in all respects,” Maxwell told Blanche.
Blanche interviewed Maxwell amid the backlash over the Trump administration’s initial refusal to release documents from its investigation into the disgraced financier, which some believed would show links between Epstein and other powerful individuals.
Blanche and Attorney General Pam Bondi informed Trump in May that his name appeared multiple times in files related to Epstein, The Wall Street Journal reported. Many other high-profile figures were also named. Being mentioned in the files isn’t an indication of wrongdoing. The White House called the story “fake news.” Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in Epstein’s sex trafficking, is appealing her conviction and seeking a pardon. Blanche told Maxwell she would receive immunity for what she discussed –– although she could be charged with making false statements if she lied. She had been previously charged with perjury, but prosecutors dropped those charges after she was convicted on more serious counts.
A week after her interview with Blanche, Maxwell was transferred to a minimum security prison camp in Bryan, Texas.
During the interview, Maxwell seemed cooperative and eager to answer Blanche’s questions about Epstein and the powerful people he associated with, even if she said she didn’t fully recall details from events that took place years ago.
Epstein ‘client list’
Maxwell said she knew that Epstein enjoyed getting massages from many women and introduced some women to him, describing his lifestyle as “Sex and the City.” But she denied knowing that any of them were underage or that she was aware at the time of his criminal activities.
The notion that Epstein was running a sex-trafficking scheme for his powerful friends “is a narrative that was created and then built upon, and it just mushroomed into what – basically this is like a Salem witch trial,” she said. “He’s a disgusting guy who did terrible things to young kids.” Maxwell said there is no Epstein “client list,” a list of people to whom Epstein allegedly trafficked young girls, and she never saw any of Epstein’s associates abusing girls or young women. “I never, ever saw any man doing something inappropriate with a woman of any age. I never saw inappropriate habits.” The Justice Department has also said no such list exists.
Epstein didn’t keep a list of men who had a massage on his properties and didn’t solicit information from masseuses who treated his friends in order to blackmail them, according to Maxwell. “There’s no list of people getting massages,” she said.
During Maxwell’s trial in 2021, prosecutors said she recruited vulnerable girls by befriending and introducing them to Epstein. She and Epstein would groom and abuse the victims, some as young as 14 years old.
David Markus, Maxwell’s lawyer, said in a statement that Maxwell didn’t receive a fair trial and that she didn’t dodge any questions from Blanche. Markus thanked the Justice Department and Blanche for releasing the tapes. “We are also grateful to the President for his continued commitment to the truth in this matter and for refusing to cave to the mob,” he added.
Epstein’s suicide
Maxwell said she didn’t believe Epstein killed himself while in a Manhattan jail awaiting trial in 2019. “I do not believe he died by suicide, no.” She told Blanche that she believed Epstein was likely killed by someone inside the prison. “If it is indeed murder, I believe it was an internal situation,” she said.
She said she wasn’t aware of anyone outside the prison that would want Epstein killed because of blackmail or to keep him quiet. “If that is what they wanted, they would’ve had plenty of opportunity when he wasn’t in jail,” she said. “And if they were worried about blackmail or anything from him, he would’ve been a very easy target.” A medical examiner ruled his death a suicide in 2019. Federal investigators reiterated that conclusion in a July 7 memo from the Justice Department.
Spy theories
Maxwell said she doesn’t believe Epstein was a source for the FBI or any other U.S. intelligence agency, which is one widely believed theory about why he was hobnobbing with politicians and business leaders.
“I don’t think so,” she said when asked if he was providing information for the CIA or any other law enforcement agency. “I don’t remember anything like that,” she said. “I just don’t think he had the wherewithal.” She added she believes the theory is “bullshit.” Maxwell also hinted that her father, Robert Maxwell, was connected to an intelligence service. Robert Maxwell died in 1991. His body was found off the Canary Islands after he had been reported missing from his yacht, named the “Lady Ghislaine.” “Certainly my father had a background in intelligence,” she said, noting that he was a British intelligence officer during World War II. “My sort of belief is that once you’ve been an intelligence officer, you’re kind of — always; it doesn’t mean that you’re formally employed,” Maxwell said.
Powerful associates
Maxwell said that she first met Trump in New York in the 1990s before she met Epstein. “My father was friendly with him [Trump] and liked him very much,” she said. She also said her father was close with Trump’s first wife Ivana and they bonded over their shared Czechoslovakian heritage.
“Trump was always very cordial and very kind to me,” Maxwell said. “And I like him, and I’ve always liked him. So that is the sum and substance of my entire relationship with him.” Maxwell said she doesn’t know how Trump and Epstein met or how they became friends. “I remember the few times I observed them together, but they were friendly,” Maxwell said of Trump and Epstein.
But she said she only saw Trump and Epstein in social settings. “I don’t recall any private settings,” Maxwell said. She said that she only recalled going infrequently to Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida estate. “The times I went there it was for an event, maybe once or twice.” She said that Epstein would sometimes go to Mar-a-Lago without her and would spend time in the spa there. “He would go alone. I think he would maybe go himself to the spa.” Maxwell fawned over Trump, telling Blanche his boss was “one of the all-time great, you know, businessmen.” Maxwell said that she knew Bill Clinton before Epstein. “President Clinton was my friend, not Epstein’s friend,” she said. She recalled a time when Clinton, along with some aides, flew on a plane to Hong Kong.
Maxwell said she went on a trip with Clinton in 2002 or 2003 to Latin America. Epstein wasn’t on the trip, but Maxwell said she used his plane for it.
“I thought it was an honour and a privilege to be part of something so amazing and to have an opportunity to spend time with a man that I found truly extraordinary,” Maxwell said about Clinton. “And please, I don’t mean it in any other way, other than as a former fantastic ex-president.” She said she first met Hillary Clinton on a flight to New York and then went to their home in Chappaqua, NY, a few times “as a friend.” She said that she helped with the ramp up of the Clinton Global Initiative, which was part of Clinton’s post-presidential operation, and envisioned that it would be similar to the World Economic Forum at Davos. Maxwell said that she was instrumental in bringing in some key staff, but didn’t say who.
Maxwell said Bill Clinton didn’t go to Epstein’s island. “He never. Absolutely never went,” she said. “I don’t believe there’s any way that he would’ve gone to the island, had I not been there. Because I don’t believe he had an independent friendship, if you will, with Epstein.” Maxwell said Clinton thought of Epstein as “a rich guy with a plane,” not a friend.
“President Clinton liked me, and we got along terribly well. But I never saw that warmth or however you want to characterise it, with Mr. Epstein, ” she said.
A spokesman for the former president referred back to a 2019 statement that Clinton had no knowledge of Epstein’s crimes. The Clinton Global Initiative declined to comment.
Birthday book
In her interview with Justice Department officials, Maxwell said she assembled a birthday book for Epstein’s 50th birthday celebration in 2003 but didn’t remember any names of people who made contributions to the album.
Maxwell said the idea was inspired by a book that her mother made for her father’s 60th birthday. She remembered collecting letters for Epstein’s book and recalled that it was thick and professionally bound. She said that Epstein kept the finished album in a bookcase behind his desk in his Manhattan townhouse.
The Journal published an article in July about a letter bearing Trump’s signature that was included in a 2003 birthday album for Epstein. The letter, which the Journal reviewed, contained several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman. It ends with “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.” Trump has denied writing the letter or making the drawing.
The birthday book also contained letters from former President Bill Clinton, Wall Street billionaire Leon Black, fashion designer Vera Wang and media owner Mort Zuckerman, among dozens of others, the Journal has reported. Trump, Clinton and the others were listed in the book’s table of contents. The leather-bound album was assembled before Epstein was first arrested in 2006.
Maxwell said in her interview with Blanche that some people were given paper to make contributions, but others made their own submissions. Some letters were sent directly to Epstein and then he gave them to her to put in the book. “I wasn’t responsible for everybody in that book. And there were people that he would ask himself to contribute,” Maxwell said, according to the transcript.
When asked by Blanche whether she recalled the names of any specific people who made contributions, she said she didn’t. ” It’s been so long. I want to tell you, but I don’t remember.” When he asked if she recalled President Trump submitting a letter, Maxwell said she also didn’t remember.
She said she remembered seeing “some pages of the book” during the discovery phase of her trial, but she was surprised by how few letters were produced to her by the government. “Because I thought if you had those, where are the rest?” Maxwell said.
Trump has filed a lawsuit against the Journal’s reporters, Journal publisher Dow Jones and parent company News Corp. News Corp Chief Executive Robert Thomson and chairman emeritus Rupert Murdoch were also named as defendants. Trump called the letter “non-existent” and alleged the article defamed him.
A Dow Jones spokeswoman said, “We have full confidence in the rigour and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.” Epstein and Trump said that they subsequently had a falling-out, with their friendship ending before Epstein pleaded guilty to procuring a minor for prostitution in 2008, served time in a Florida jail and registered as a sex offender.
The Wall Street Journal
