A high Division of Justice official repeatedly questioned intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein’s confederate Ghislaine Maxwell about interactions with President Donald Trump — a former good friend of Epstein — throughout a two-day interview in July, newly launched transcripts revealed Friday.
Deputy Legal professional Basic Todd Blanche stated Friday in a social media put up that the DOJ was releasing the whole transcript and audio of their sitdown “Within the curiosity of transparency.”
Learn the transcripts:
Blanche, who beforehand served as Trump’s legal protection lawyer, requested Maxwell final month, “Did you ever hear Mr. Epstein or anyone say that President Trump had performed something inappropriate with masseuses or with anyone in your world?” in keeping with the transcripts.
“Completely by no means, in any context,” stated Maxwell in the course of the interview, which was carried out on the federal courthouse in Tallahassee, Florida.
Maxwell, at different factors in the course of the interview, stated she didn’t know of any wrongdoing by Trump, whom she praised.
The interview was carried out close to the federal jail the place she had been serving her 20-year sentence for procuring underage women to be sexually abused by Epstein.
The Trump administration has been criticized for weeks for reneging on guarantees to launch investigative recordsdata about Epstein, who killed himself in August 2019 after being arrested on little one intercourse trafficking costs throughout Trump’s first time period within the White Home.
Maxwell advised Blanche final month that she didn’t imagine the official findings that Epstein dedicated suicide, which a lot of Trump’s supporters have additionally questioned.
Trump has referred to as the controversy over the DOJ’s choice to not launch the Epstein recordsdata a “hoax” created by Democrats, at the same time as a lot of his fellow Republicans in Congress name for his or her launch.
Days after Blanche’s interview with Maxwell in July, Trump famous to reporters that he had the facility to pardon her, though nobody had requested her to take action.
Brittany Henderson, an legal professional for quite a few Epstein victims and survivors, in an announcement Friday, stated, “Ghislaine Maxwell was federally indicted on two perjury counts because of her testimony throughout” a civil deposition associated to a lawsuit.
“Having been convicted of intercourse trafficking, she is now in jail presumably hoping that she is going to obtain a pardon from President Trump,” Henderson stated. “I am unable to think about that her testimony might be given a lot weight by anybody with any data in anyway of her involvement with Jeffrey Epstein.”
Maxwell, in her interview, stated, “I really by no means noticed the President in any sort of therapeutic massage setting,” after Blanche requested about her and Epstein’s visits to the spa at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s resort and present residence in Palm Seaside, Florida.
“I by no means witnessed the President in any inappropriate setting in any approach. The President was by no means inappropriate with anyone,” she advised Blanche. “Within the instances that I used to be with him, he was a gentleman in all respects.”
Maxwell additionally stated she was unaware of any efforts by Epstein to blackmail individuals he knew over any interactions they might have had with girls or women in his orbit.
Maxwell stated she couldn’t recall specifics about an album of well-wishes she compiled for Epstein’s fiftieth birthday, the existence of which was revealed after The Wall Avenue Journal reported {that a} “bawdy” letter despatched to Epstein bore Trump’s signature.
Trump denied sending that letter and is suing the Journal for defamation over its report.
Maxwell advised Blanche stated she didn’t bear in mind the names of anybody who despatched in letters, saying, “It has been so lengthy.”
Requested if she recalled Trump submitting a observe, she stated, “I do not.
Maxwell, who has requested the Supreme Court docket to take her enchantment of her conviction, had been serving her sentence in a federal jail in Florida.
However after her interview with Blanche, she was transferred to a less-restrictive federal lockup in Texas, a transfer that was blasted by victims of Epstein.
Maxwell, in her interview, poured chilly water on Trump’s efforts to intently hyperlink former President Invoice Clinton to Epstein. Trump has advised that Clinton visited Epstein’s non-public island within the U.S. Virgin Islands a number of instances, which Clinton has denied. Epstein is thought to have sexually abused many victims on that island.
Clinton “completely by no means went” to the island,” Maxwell stated.
“And I will be positive of that as a result of there is no approach he would’ve gone — I do not imagine there’s any approach that he would’ve gone to the island, had I not been there,” Maxwell stated.
“As a result of I do not imagine he had an impartial friendship, if you’ll, with Epstein. Did they communicate? Did he go? Sure, however that is very completely different from going to spend time on an island.”
Clinton, nevertheless, is thought to have traveled on Epstein’s non-public jet a number of instances.
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