By Luc Cohen, Andrew Goudsward and Jack Queen
(Reuters) -Ghislaine Maxwell, an associate of Jeffrey Epstein, told a top Justice Department official in July that she was not aware of any “client list” belonging to the late financier and sex offender and never saw President Donald Trump behave inappropriately, according to a transcript of an interview released on Friday.
“I never witnessed the President in any inappropriate setting in any way,” Maxwell said, according to the transcript of her two-day interview last month with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. “The President was never inappropriate with anybody.”
Maxwell also told Blanche that she was not aware of any “client list” of Epstein’s. Epstein’s friendships with wealthy and powerful individuals have fueled conspiracy theories that others were involved with his crimes, but no one other than he and Maxwell have been criminally charged.
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. He had pleaded not guilty. Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking in 2021 for helping Epstein abuse underage girls. She pleaded not guilty and is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn her conviction.
The publication of the interview comes as Trump has faced criticism from his conservative base of supporters and congressional Democrats over the Justice Department’s decision not to release the files from its Epstein investigation, in what has become one of the biggest political liabilities of his second White House term.
In interviews while campaigning, Trump pledged to release government records pertaining to the Epstein investigation and left open the possibility that Epstein’s death had not been a suicide.
In February, when asked by Fox News whether the Justice Department would be releasing what a reporter called Epstein’s client list, Attorney General Pam Bondi said, “It’s sitting on my desk right now to review.”
But in July, the Justice Department said it would not be releasing any further records from the case after concluding there was “no incriminating client list” nor was there any evidence that Epstein had blackmailed prominent people.
‘VERY CORDIAL’
Blanche’s interview of Maxwell on July 24 and July 25 came as Trump sought to tame the political fallout from the Justice Department’s decision not to release the files.
It is rare for a Justice Department official as senior as Blanche – who has also served as Trump’s personal lawyer – to directly interview a criminal defendant. The conversation also came as Maxwell’s lawyer, David Markus, said Maxwell would welcome clemency from Trump.
A week after the interview, Maxwell was moved from a low-security prison facility in Florida to a less-restrictive prison camp in Texas. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence for recruiting underage girls for Epstein to abuse during encounters that began as massages and then escalated into unwanted sexual activity.
Trump knew Epstein socially in the 1990s and early 2000s. During Maxwell’s trial the financier’s longtime pilot, Lawrence Visoski, testified that Trump flew on Epstein’s private plane multiple times. Trump has denied flying on the plane.
Maxwell told Blanche she never saw Trump receive a massage or engage in other inappropriate activity.
“As far as I’m concerned, President Trump was always very cordial and very kind to me,” Maxwell said, according to the transcript. “And I just want to say that I admire his extraordinary achievement in becoming the President now.”
(Reporting by Christian Martinez, Luc Cohen, Andrew Goudsward and Jack Queen; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Noeleen Walder and Diane Craft)
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