The US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday released 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 Donald Trump, and possibly met him, in 1990 when she visited the US on a business trip for her father’s company, and that she first met Epstein the following year.
However, Maxwell denied that Trump or former President Bill Clinton had ever been “inappropriate” with masseuses who were allegedly recruited to give massages. She said 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 offense 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 in a New York federal prison cell in August 2019, and the DOJ later affirmed that his death was a suicide. The release of the interview transcripts follows a backlash against the Trump administration over the non-disclosure of files related to the Epstein case.
US District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer earlier this month rejected the Trump administration’s request to unseal grand jury materials from the sex trafficking case, citing a lack of special circumstances and public interest.
