US justice department released transcripts of interview with Jeffrey Epstein associate – here’s what we have learned
The US Department of Justice has released the transcripts and audio recording of an interview conducted by Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, with the convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.
The transcripts include redacted documentation from a two-day interview on 24 and 25 July and several audio recordings. Here’s what we know so far at a glance:
Maxwell said that she “never” saw Donald Trump receive a massage. She also said that she “never witnessed the president in any inappropriate setting in any way,” adding that, whenever she saw the president, he was “a gentleman in all respects”.
One notable point is that Maxwell denied ever recruiting masseuses from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club. “I’ve never recruited a masseuse from Mar-a-Lago for that, as far as I remember. I can’t ever recollect doing that,” she told Blanche. A reminder that Trump claimed his falling out with Epstein stemmed from the Trump’s efforts to hire workers away from Trump’s Florida club.
Maxwell detailed the social relationship between Trump and Epstein, who cultivated a wide and powerful social circle for many years. “I don’t know how they met, and I don’t know how they became friends. I certainly saw them together and I remember the few times I observed them together, but they were friendly. I mean, they seemed friendly,” she said.
Maxwell also did not recall former US president Bill Clinton receiving a massage while travelling with Epstein.
Blanche said, on the record, that the conversation was not “promising to do anything” for Maxwell. He said that anything she said could not be used against her, unless she provided false statements or there was a retrial in her case.
According to Maxwell, Epstein did not have any video or photographic evidence of any high-profile individuals committing sexual offences. And to that point, Maxwell also said she didn’t hear or witness any instances of Epstein blackmailing powerful people.
Maxwell said she recruited a number of masseuses for Epstein but “never checked their age or credentials”. She added that, throughout her time with Epstein, she never heard any examples of “sexually inappropriate contact” between Epstein’s guests and in-house masseuses.
Despite her claims that Epstein did not extort anyone, Maxwell said she did not believe that Epstein died by suicide. She chalked that up to “mismanagement” at the Bureau of Prisons.
In the interview, Maxwell said she does believe that Epstein “did a lot of, not all, but some of what he’s accused of”. But she maintains that “he became that man over a period of time”.
Maxwell did not remember whether Trump submitted a letter for Epstein’s 50th birthday album, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. She also could not remember asking Trump to contribute.
