US Justice Department releases transcripts of interview with Ghislaine Maxwell

The US Division of Justice (DOJ) launched on Friday transcripts of its interview with Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, who’s at present imprisoned over a sex-trafficking case.

In keeping with the transcripts, Maxwell recalled that she first knew about President Donald Trump and doubtlessly met him in 1990 when she visited the US to work for her father’s firm, and that it was throughout this time that she had additionally first met Epstein in 1991.

Nevertheless, Maxwell denied that Trump and former President Invoice Clinton had ever been “inappropriate” with masseuses who have been allegedly recruited to provide massages. She continued that Trump “appeared pleasant” with Epstein, although she had solely seen each of them collectively in “social settings.” She additional praised Trump as a “gentleman in all respects,” whom she had by no means seen in any therapeutic massage setting. Maxwell moreover denied having any information of the existence of a “shopper record.”

Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of serving to Epstein recruit and groom underage ladies from 1994 to 2004 to be sexually abused. She allegedly dedicated the offence by befriending sure victims via her dialog with them about their lives and households. She is at present serving her 20-year sentence at a minimal safety jail camp in Texas. The case had lengthy garnered public consideration because of the involvement of high-profile figures corresponding to Prince Andrew, former President Invoice Clinton, and Trump.

Epstein, who was accused of sexually abusing a number of teenage ladies, was discovered deceased a month later in a New York jail cell, and the DOJ later affirmed suicide. The discharge of interview transcripts follows the sooner backlash in opposition to the Trump administration over the non-disclosure of information associated to the Epstein case.

Relatedly, the US District Decide, Paul A. Engelmayer, rejected in August the Trump administration’s request to unseal grand jury supplies from the intercourse trafficking case, citing a scarcity of particular circumstances and public curiosity.