The Justice Department on Friday released transcripts and audio files of two days of interviews with Ghislaine Maxwell, conducted last month at her federal prison. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche led the sessions, which covered Maxwell’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein and her knowledge of figures linked to him.
Officials also provided the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee with an initial set of records tied to Epstein. The files, described by the panel as numbering in the thousands of pages, included more than 300 pages from Maxwell’s interviews.
The release followed a subpoena approved in July after bipartisan pressure for access to the so-called “Epstein Files.” Committee Chair James Comer said the volume of material delayed the handover beyond the committee’s initial deadline set for earlier that week.
Democrats on the committee, joined by some Republicans, had pressed for full and unredacted disclosure. Ranking Member Robert Garcia said earlier that staggered releases amounted to a cover-up. The Oversight panel stated it will review the documents and remove identifying information about victims before making them public.
Maxwell’s Key Claims in Interview
Maxwell told Blanche she never saw Donald Trump “in any inappropriate setting.” She said the former president was not a client of Epstein and had no involvement in the financier’s activities.
She rejected claims about former President Bill Clinton. Maxwell said she never saw him receive a massage and only recalled his presence during flights on Epstein’s plane.
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Asked about the possibility of a “client list,” Maxwell said no such record exists. “There is no list,” she told investigators. Her counsel, David Markus, reaffirmed the statement when pressed in the interview.
Maxwell also denied that Trump contributed a message to Epstein’s 50th birthday book. She said she reviewed the book during legal proceedings and found no entry from him. Trump has sued The Wall Street Journal for reporting that he wrote a note for the collection.
Disputes Epstein’s Death Narrative
Maxwell told Blanche she did not think Epstein’s death was a suicide.“I don’t think he took his own life,” she told investigators during the interview.
She added that she had no reason to think Epstein was killed in custody. If anyone had wanted to silence him, opportunities existed before his incarceration, Maxwell said.
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Epstein was discovered dead in August 2019 while held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York. He died by suicide, federal investigators concluded. A Justice Department memo released in July repeated that finding, citing the FBI’s review.
Political Fallout and Public Reactions
The disclosures triggered immediate responses across Washington. Lawmakers said additional batches of Epstein-related records are expected from the Justice Department.
Trump pointed to Maxwell’s remarks to again call attention to Clinton’s travel with Epstein. He said last month he rejected an invitation to visit Epstein’s private island.
Focus has shifted again to Virginia Giuffre, who said Epstein and Maxwell drew her into a trafficking scheme. She died by suicide in April.
Maxwell has taken her 2021 conviction to the Supreme Court in an appeal. Some commentators online speculated about the possibility of a pardon, while others questioned the timing of the interview release.
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