The US Department of Justice (DOJ) released on Friday transcripts of its interview with Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently imprisoned over a sex-trafficking case.
According to the transcripts, Maxwell recalled that she first knew about President Donald Trump and potentially met him in 1990 when she visited the US to work for her father’s company, and that it was during this time that she had also first met Epstein in 1991.
However, Maxwell denied that Trump and former President Bill Clinton had ever been “inappropriate” with masseuses who were allegedly recruited to give massages. She continued that Trump “seemed friendly” with Epstein, though she had only seen both of them together in “social settings.” She further praised Trump as a “gentleman in all respects,” whom she had never seen in any massage setting. Maxwell additionally denied having any knowledge of the existence of a “client list.”
Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of helping Epstein recruit and groom underage girls from 1994 to 2004 to be sexually abused. She allegedly committed the offence by befriending certain victims through her conversation with them about their lives and families. She is currently serving her 20-year sentence at a minimum security prison camp in Texas. The case had long garnered public attention due to the involvement of high-profile figures such as Prince Andrew, former President Bill Clinton, and Trump.
Epstein, who was accused of sexually abusing several teenage girls, was found deceased a month later in a New York jail cell, and the DOJ later affirmed suicide. The release of interview transcripts follows the earlier backlash against the Trump administration over the non-disclosure of files related to the Epstein case.
Relatedly, the US District Judge, Paul A. Engelmayer, rejected in August the Trump administration’s request to unseal grand jury materials from the sex trafficking case, citing a lack of special circumstances and public interest.
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