According to a transcript of an interview released on Friday, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in helping Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls, told a top Justice Department official in July that she was not aware of any “client list” belonging to the late financier. She also stated that she never saw President Donald Trump behave inappropriately.
In the transcript of her two-day interview with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Maxwell, a 63-year-old former British socialite, said, “I never witnessed the President in any inappropriate setting in any way.” She added that “The President was never inappropriate with anybody.” During the interview, Maxwell also said she did not witness any sexual abuse by Epstein, her longtime boyfriend, and did not implicate any other prominent individuals in wrongdoing. “He kept a lot to himself and he didn’t like to share,” Maxwell said of Epstein. “He was not a sharer. Well, at least not with me.”
The release of the transcripts and audio recordings comes amid intense public scrutiny of Epstein, who socialized with the cultural and political elite. It also coincides with efforts by the Trump administration to address a political crisis over the Justice Department’s refusal to release files from its investigation into Epstein, despite earlier pledges to do so.
Maxwell spoke with Blanche under the condition that her self-incriminating statements would not be used against her, but she could be prosecuted if she lied. While she was previously charged with perjury for lying in a 2016 deposition, those charges were dropped after her sex trafficking conviction in 2021. During her month-long trial in Manhattan, four women gave emotional and explicit testimony, stating that Maxwell recruited and groomed them for abuse by Epstein.
Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His death, combined with his friendships with powerful people like Trump and former Democratic President Bill Clinton, has fueled conspiracy theories that others were involved in his crimes and that he was murdered to cover it up. To date, no one other than he and Maxwell have been charged.
Blanche asked Maxwell if Epstein maintained a “client list.” Maxwell responded, “There is no list that I am aware of.” Maxwell, who has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges, has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn her conviction. Her attorney, David Markus, stated that the interview supports her claim of innocence, saying, “Her demeanor and credibility are clear for anyone to hear.”
The interview took place as Trump sought to quell criticism from his conservative base and congressional Democrats over the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files. A week after the interview, Maxwell was moved from a low-security prison facility in Florida to a less-restrictive prison camp in Texas.
Trump’s social relationship with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s has been widely reported. Maxwell told Blanche that she never saw Trump receive a massage or engage in other inappropriate activity. Many of Epstein’s alleged victims said their unwanted sexual encounters with him began as massages. “As far as I’m concerned, President Trump was always very cordial and very kind to me,” Maxwell said, adding that she “admire[s] his extraordinary achievement in becoming the President now.”
Blanche, who also served as Trump’s personal lawyer, is a senior Justice Department official, making his direct interview with a criminal defendant a rare occurrence. He also questioned Maxwell about her and Epstein’s interactions with prominent Democrats, including Bill and Hillary Clinton, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, and billionaire George Soros. Maxwell did not implicate any of them in wrongdoing. She stated that she worked with Bill Clinton on philanthropic endeavors and that he used Epstein’s plane, but she said Clinton never visited Epstein’s private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
