The Trump administration on Friday released interview transcripts with convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime girlfriend and accomplice of deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Maxwell, who is seeking a pardon from President Trump, spoke highly of him throughout the interview and said she never witnessed Trump do anything inappropriate during the time she knew him.
“I just want to say that I find — I — I admire his extraordinary achievement in becoming the President now. 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 in a July 24 interview with officials from the Department of Justice.
Maxwell recalled Trump’s friendship with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s as a regular social friendship, rather than a close friendship.
“I think they were friendly like people are in social settings. I don’t — I don’t think they were close friends or I certainly never witnessed the President in any of — I don’t recall ever seeing him in his house, for instance,” Maxwell recounted.
She could not remember any instances of Trump seeking massages or acting inappropriately towards anyone in her social circles.
“I actually never saw the President in any type of massage setting. I 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 asserted, referring to Trump.
Responding to a follow-up from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Maxwell said nobody ever accused Trump of acting inappropriately with masseuses or anyone else in their social scene. The last time Maxwell saw Trump was in the early-to-mid 2000s and it was in a social setting.
The Justice Department on Friday disclosed transcripts and audio from Blanche’s interview with Maxwell in July. Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison for sex trafficking charges related to her actions with Epstein. Her interview with the Justice Department appears to lack any new or incriminating information related to Epstein’s sex trafficking activities and network of powerful friends in politics, business, and entertainment.
Epstein died in his jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. He was already a registered sex offender because of a sex crimes conviction in Florida over a decade earlier. Trump and Epstein’s 15-year friendship ended in the mid 2000s before Epstein’s conviction and Trump has never been accused of wrongdoing.
Blanche interviewed Maxwell during the height of the fallout from the Trump administration’s decision not to release the federal government’s tranche of files on Epstein, despite Trump’s promises to do so. Trump has dismissed the Epstein files as a Democratic Party hoax similar to the false claims of collusion between his 2016 campaign and Russia.
Inspired by the renewed interest in the Epstein files, the House Oversight Committee launched an investigation into Epstein’s activities and is seeking records from the Justice Department for the probe. A spokesperson for the panel told NR that the Justice Department began turning over documents Friday in compliance with the Oversight Committee’s subpoena.
“The House Oversight Committee has received the Department of Justice’s first production of Epstein records pursuant to Chairman James Comer’s subpoena. The production contains thousands of pages of documents,” the spokesperson said.
“The Committee intends to make these records public after thorough review to ensure any victims’ identification and child sexual abuse material are redacted. The Committee will also consult with the DOJ to ensure any documents released do not negatively impact ongoing criminal cases and investigations.”
Comer and Maxwell have been negotiating terms for her to testify before the committee to further its investigation. Any testimony she provides will likely come during the fall after the Supreme Court reviews her petition to have her 2021 sex trafficking conviction thrown out.
The Trump administration has unsuccessfully sought grand jury transcripts from the criminal prosecutions of Epstein and Maxwell amid scrutiny over its handling of the Epstein documents. In addition to withholding the documents, the Trump administration determined that Epstein committed suicide and did not have a “client list” of close associates. Although officially ruled a suicide, Epstein’s death has remained the subject of fascination because of its timing and Epstein’s powerful connections.
Trump’s friendship with Epstein received fresh scrutiny because of Trump’s dismissal of the Epstein documents and his administration’s decision not to release them. Trump’s name is one of many in the Epstein documents, but he has not been accused of misconduct, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The Journal also reported on a letter Trump purportedly sent Epstein for his 50th birthday, a story that caused MAGA to rally around Trump after intense backlash to the Epstein files saga. Trump is suing the Journal and claims the outlet published a defamatory story based on a fake letter.