transcripts

Ghislaine Maxwell, the jailed associate of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has told US officials she did not witness any inappropriate conduct by Donald Trump or former President Bill Clinton.

The Trump administration has faced pressure to disclose information about Epstein, who the US president was previously friendly with.

Maxwell was interviewed from prison in July and, according to the newly released transcript, told Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche that a much-discussed Epstein “client list” does not exist.

She also called allegations of Prince Andrew having sexual relations with an underage girl in Maxwell’s home “mind-blowingly not conceivable”.

Maxwell is seeking a pardon from Trump and has been accused of lying to federal officials.

Shortly the interview with Blanche – who previously worked as Trump’s personal attorney – she was moved from her from a Florida prison to a new minimum-security facility in Texas. It is unclear why the move was made.

She is currently serving a 20-year sentence in a sex-trafficking scheme, and has petitioned the US Supreme Court to overturn her conviction. Her lawyer has said they would “welcome” a pardon from the president.

The White House has been adamant that “no leniency is being given or discussed” in Maxwell’s case.

Trump has maintained that he fell out with Epstein in 2004.

The president has accused his political opponents of using the case to distract from what he sees as his administration’s victories.

But he has also faced pressure from his own Republican Party for more transparency around investigations of Epstein.

In the transcripts – which amount to 300 pages, some heavily redacted – Maxwell said that while she believed Trump and Epstein were friendly “in social settings”, she did not think they were close friends.

“I actually never saw the president in any type of massage setting,” she said – alluding to the massage services that some Epstein victims have mentioned. “The president was never inappropriate with anybody.”

“In the times I was with him, he was a gentleman in all respects,” she added.

She also said she did not recall Trump sending Epstein a 50th birthday note in 2003, which drew recent headlines after the note was reported in the Wall Street Journal.

In the interview, Blanche also asked Maxwell about the alleged “client list” of high-profile personalities that has become the object of conspiracy theories in recent years.

Maxwell was asked about several well-known figures, including Bill Gates, Elon Musk, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, actor Kevin Spacey, model Naomi Campbell and Prince Andrew – whom she denied she introduced to Epstein.

The list of his high-profile associates had become a focal point for conspiracy theorists who insisted that it was being kept hidden by the “deep state” to protect prominent participants in Epstein’s crimes.

Several figures in Trump’s administration – including FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino – repeated those claims in the past, although they have since backtracked.

“There is no list,” Maxwell said.

Maxwell also spoke about Prince Andrew, whose relationship with Epstein eventually led to his stepping down from royal duties.

She called it a “flat untruth” that she’d been the one who introduced the Duke of York to Epstein.

“First of all, let’s just state, I did not introduce him to Prince Andrew,” she said.

She spoke at length of Epstein’s relationship with both Prince Andrew and the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson.

Prince Andrew has previously said that Maxwell introduced him to Epstein. But Maxwell said she believed it was the duchess who was responsible.

When approached by the BBC about Maxwell’s claim, Sarah Ferguson’s representatives declined to comment.

Maxwell also spoke about Prince Andrew’s alleged relationship with a woman whose name has been redacted in the transcript.

She said she found the allegations against the Duke of York “mind-blowingly not conceivable”, partly due to the size of her house where the events allegedly took place.

She was also asked about a “famous photo” of Prince Andrew and the unnamed woman, with Maxwell in the background. She told Blanche this photo was fake.

The prince was accused by Virginia Giuffre, who is not named in the transcript, of sexually abusing her when she was 17. He denied the allegations but reached a financial settlement with her in 2022, which contained no admission of liability or apology.

A widely circulated photo shows him alongside Giuffre with Maxwell in the background. Andrew has previously disputed its authenticity.

Giuffre took her own life earlier this year. Her family has condemned the justice department for interviewing Maxwell and said she is a “monster” whose testimony cannot be trusted.

According to Maxwell, she first befriended Epstein in 1991, and subsequently developed a sexual relationship with him.

Even after that relationship ended, she said she was still paid by Epstein – up to $250,000 (£184,782) a year by 2009 – and remained “friends with benefits”. She added that their relationship was “almost non-existent” between 2010 and his death.

Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

“I do not believe he died by suicide, no,” Maxwell said when asked, although she added that she did “not have any reason” to believe that he had been killed in a bid to silence him.

“It’s ludicrous,” she said of theories that he was murdered. “I also happen to think if that is what they wanted, they would’ve had plenty of opportunity when he wasn’t in jail.”

“And if they were worried about blackmail or anything from him, he would’ve been a very easy target,” she added.

Earlier this year, reports emerged that Trump had been told by US Attorney General Pam Bondi that his name appeared in the official files of the investigation into Epstein .

Trump has never been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with the case – and on the campaign trail last year said he would publicise more information about the case.

But he reversed his position several months into his administration, saying the case was closed, and criticised supporters and journalists who continued to press him on it.

The United States Department of Justice has released transcripts of a recent interview between Ghislaine Maxwell, the former partner of child sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein, and one of its top officials.

Their meeting was arranged in July as the administration of President Donald Trump struggled to tamp down scrutiny over his past ties to Epstein.

In transcripts released on Friday, Maxwell praised Trump and insisted that she never saw him engage in any inappropriate behaviour.

“I actually never saw the president in any type of massage setting,” said Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking convictions.

“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.”

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, the second-in-command at the Justice Department, previously said he met with Maxwell to see if she “has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims”.

But the release of the transcripts is likely to reignite questions about how the Justice Department has handled information about the Epstein case, which has become a source of speculation and conspiracy theories among Trump’s supporters.

On Friday, Blanche said that, excepting the names of the victims, “every word is included” in the released transcripts.

“Nothing removed. Nothing hidden,” he explained.

In the interview, Maxwell denied having any knowledge of a so-called “client list”, a subject of conspiracy theories on the US right.

She also complimented Trump for his behaviour and his “extraordinary achievement in becoming the president now”.

“Trump was always very cordial and very kind to me,” Maxwell said, adding, “I like him, and I’ve always liked him.”

Following her meeting with Blanche, which took place in a courthouse over two days, Maxwell was moved from a low-security federal prison in Florida to a minimum-security camp in Texas.

The government has not explained the reason for the change.

But in the aftermath of the meeting, the family of one of Epstein’s highest-profile accusers, Virginia Giuffre, called on the Trump administration not to show Maxwell any leniency.

“She must remain in prison — anything less would go down in history as being one of the highest travesties of justice,” Giuffre’s relatives wrote in a statement. Giuffre died by suicide in April.

Epstein himself was found dead in his jail cell in 2019, and his death was ruled a suicide by hanging.

Still, conspiracy theories have widely circulated in the US that his death could have been a cover-up, based on the belief that Epstein’s powerful associates may have taken part in his abuse.

Experts say the saga has become a stand-in for the suspicion that the rich and powerful face little accountability, and Trump’s “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) base has long backed efforts to “drain the swamp”: a catchphrase used to advocate for the removal of corrupt forces in the government and leading industries.

Some of these suspicions have evolved into conspiracy theories about rings of paedophiles operating in the shadows of power.

In 2016, for instance, a suspect fired a gun into the Comet Ping Pong Pizzeria in Washington, DC, based on the belief it was a hub for such a ring.

In the Epstein case, there was widespread speculation that the disgraced financier kept a “client list” as blackmail against powerful figures.

Several members of the Trump administration had previously been strong promoters of that conspiracy theory, including Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel.

But he has since backtracked after joining the White House for Trump’s second term, with the FBI and Department of Justice issuing a joint memo that no such list exists. That memo also reaffirmed that Epstein died by suicide and no further suspects in his abuses have come to light.

The memo, however, failed to dampen interest in the scandal, and many pointed out that Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News in February that a client list was “on her desk” for review. Bondi has since said she misspoke and was referring to the Epstein files in general.

A Quinnipiac poll in July found that 63 percent of people in the US disapprove of Trump’s handling of the issue.

NEW YORK — A federal judge who presided over the sex trafficking case against financier Jeffrey Epstein has rejected the government’s request to unseal grand jury transcripts.

The ruling Wednesday by Judge Richard Berman in Manhattan came after the judge presiding over the case against British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend, also turned down the government’s request.

Barring reversal on appeal, Berman’s decision forecloses the possibility of grand jury testimony being released now that three judges have reached the same conclusion. A federal judge in Florida declined to release grand jury documents from an investigation there in 2005 and 2007.

The rulings are a collective repudiation of the Justice Department’s effort to divert attention away from its stated refusal to release a massive trove of records in its possession and make clear that the still-sealed court documents contain none of the answers likely to satisfy the immense public interest in the case.

President Trump had called for the release of transcripts amid rumors and criticism about his long-ago involvement with Epstein. During last year’s presidential campaign, Trump promised to release files related to Epstein, but he was met with criticism — including from many of his own supporters — when the small number of records released by his Justice Department lacked new revelations.

A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment on Wednesday.

Berman said the information contained in the Epstein grand jury transcripts “pales in comparison to the Epstein investigative information and materials in the hands of the Department of Justice.”

The Justice Department had informed Berman that the only witness to testify before the Epstein grand jury was an FBI agent who, the judge noted, “had no direct knowledge of the facts of the case and whose testimony was mostly hearsay.”

The agent testified over two days, on June 18, 2019, and July 2, 2019. The entire transcript was 70 pages. The rest of the grand jury presentation consisted of a PowerPoint slideshow shown during the June 18 session and a call log shown during the July 2 session, which ended with grand jurors voting to indict Epstein. Both of those will also remain sealed, Berman ruled.

Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence after her conviction on sex trafficking charges for helping Epstein sexually abuse girls and young women. She was recently transferred from a prison in Florida to a prison camp in Texas. Epstein died in jail awaiting trial.

Maxwell’s case has been the subject of heightened public focus since an outcry over the Justice Department’s statement last month saying that it would not be releasing any additional documents from the Epstein sex trafficking investigation. The decision infuriated online sleuths, conspiracy theorists and elements of Trump’s base who had hoped to see proof of a government cover-up.

Since then, officials in Trump’s Republican administration have tried to cast themselves as promoting transparency in the case, including by requesting from courts the unsealing of grand jury transcripts.

“The government is the logical party to make comprehensive disclosure to the public of the Epstein file,” Berman wrote in an apparent reference to the Justice Department’s refusal to release additional records on its own while simultaneously moving to unseal grand jury transcripts.

“By comparison,” Berman added, “the instant grand jury motion appears to be a ‘diversion’ from the breadth and scope of the Epstein files in the Government’s possession. The grand jury testimony is merely a hearsay snippet of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged conduct.”

Meanwhile, Maxwell was interviewed at a Florida courthouse weeks ago by Deputy Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche, and the House Oversight Committee had also said that it wanted to speak with Maxwell. Her lawyers said they would be open to an interview but only if the panel were to ensure immunity from prosecution.

In a letter to Maxwell’s lawyers, Rep. James Comer, the committee chair, wrote that the committee was willing to delay the deposition until after the resolution of Maxwell’s appeal to the Supreme Court. That appeal is expected to be resolved in late September.

Comer wrote that although Maxwell’s testimony was “vital” to the Republican-led investigation into Epstein, the committee would not provide immunity or any questions in advance of her testimony, as was requested by her team.

Neumeister and Sisak write for the Associated Press. AP writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.

Aug. 11 (UPI) — A New York judge on Monday rejected a request by the federal government to unseal grand jury records in the federal case of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein‘s longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell after the Trump administration signed off on her prison transfer.

“The court’s review confirmed that unsealing the grand jury materials would not reveal new information of any consequence,” U.S. Judge Paul Engelmayer of New York’s Southern District wrote in his 31-page ruling denying a request by the U.S. Department of Justice to unseal the grand jury material.

Late last week, the Justice Department asked to unseal further evidence in the case, saying it wanted to shield “personal identifying information” but argued that the circumstances of Maxwell’s case had warranted the unusual legal maneuver.

A grand jury’s proceedings and its corresponding evidence typically stay secret.

Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence after her December 2021 conviction on sex-trafficking charges, but has since appealed her guilty verdict.

Engelmayer, an Obama appointee, said the government’s invocation of the special circumstances surrounding the case engulfing the White House “fails at the threshold” to explain a need to release the docs.

“A member of the public, appreciating that the Maxwell grand jury materials do not contribute anything to public knowledge, might conclude that the government’s motion for their unsealing was aimed not at ‘transparency’ but at diversion — aimed not at full disclosure but at the illusion of such.”

Maxwell was transferred in early August from her Tallahassee prison in Florida to a cushy low-security prison camp in Bryan, Texas, with little reason in another unusual legal move.

“It’s entire premise — that the Maxwell grand jury materials would bring to light meaningful new information about Epstein’s and Maxwell’s crimes, or the government’s investigation into them — is demonstrably false,” the judge said Monday.

US president threatens to sue US newspaper for publishing details of lurid letter he allegedly wrote to deceased sex offender in 2003.

United States President Donald Trump has asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to request a court release grand jury testimony in the Jeffrey Epstein case, as uproar over the controversy widens.

The case of deceased high-profile sex offender Epstein has dominated news recently after the Trump administration reversed course last week on its pledge to release documents it had suggested contained damning revelations about Epstein and his alleged elite clientele.

That reversal enraged many of Trump’s most loyal followers and prompted allegations that his administration is covering up lurid details of Epstein’s crimes to protect rich and powerful figures.

Trump himself had been associated with Epstein and once called him a friend.

“Based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval. This SCAM, perpetuated by the Democrats, should end, right now!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform late on Thursday.

Shortly after Trump’s statement, Attorney General Bondi said on social media that the Justice Department was ready to ask the court on Friday to unseal the grand jury transcripts.

“President Trump – we are ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts,” Bondi wrote.

The latest development comes just hours after Trump threatened to sue The Wall Street Journal after it published a story about an alleged risque letter he wrote to Epstein that featured a drawing of a naked woman. The WSJ story, which quickly reverberated around the US capital, says the note to Epstein bearing Trump’s signature was part of a collection assembled for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003.

The newspaper said it reviewed the letter but did not print an image.

“The Editor of The Wall Street Journal… was told directly by [White House Press Secretary] Karoline Leavitt, and by President Trump, that the letter was a FAKE,” Trump wrote on his social media platform.

“Instead, they are going with a false, malicious, and defamatory story anyway,” he said.

“President Trump will be suing The Wall Street Journal, NewsCorp, and Mr. [Rupert] Murdoch, shortly. The Press has to learn to be truthful, and not rely on sources that probably don’t even exist,” he added.

The alleged letter, which Trump denies writing, involves several lines of typewritten text, contained in an outline of a naked woman drawn with a marker.

“The future president’s signature is a squiggly ‘Donald’ below her waist, mimicking pubic hair,” the Journal reported.

“The letter concludes: ‘Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.’”

Trump told the WSJ: “This is not me. This is a fake thing.”

“I don’t draw pictures of women,” he said. “It’s not my language. It’s not my words.”

Epstein took his own life in a New York prison in 2019 – during Trump’s first term – after being charged with sex trafficking in a scheme where he allegedly groomed young and underage women for sexual abuse by the rich and powerful.

The Trump-supporting far-right has long latched onto the scandal, claiming the existence of a still-secret list of Epstein’s powerful clients and that the late financier was, in fact, murdered in his cell as part of a cover-up.