Ghislaine Maxwell tells DOJ she saw no misconduct by Trump

Key topics:Maxwell says she never saw Trump behave inappropriately around Epstein.Epstein didn’t have a “client list” or blackmail people, per Maxwell.Maxwell expresses admiration for Trump and downplays her own role..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up for the BizNews channel here..By Chris Strohm, Patricia Hurtado and Jamie Tarabay.Convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell told Justice Department officials that she and Jeffrey Epstein had a social relationship with Donald Trump years ago, but she never saw the president behave inappropriately.The interview with Maxwell released Friday is a boon to Trump as his administration has been under pressure to release files from federal prosecutors’ investigation into sex-trafficking allegations against Epstein. Trump has acknowledged a friendship with Epstein, but says it ended years before the disgraced financier’s death.The 63-year-old Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in helping Epstein sexually abuse underage women, said in the interview led by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche that she couldn’t recall some details but that she had a clear memory when it came to Trump.“I actually never saw the president in any type of massage setting,” Maxwell said in the interview. “I never witnessed the president in any inappropriate setting in any way. The president was never inappropriate with anybody. In the times that I was with him, he was a gentleman in all respects.”Trump said last month he had the ability to pardon Maxwell in exchange for her cooperation with ongoing investigations, but had not yet considered whether to do so.Maxwell, who was given limited immunity for the interview, was moved to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas shortly after it was conducted over two days in July. In the transcript and audio of the interview she says that Epstein was not blackmailing famous people and denies that he kept a client list.“There’s no list,” Maxwell said in response to questioning. “And you never heard Mr. Epstein suggest that he had some sort of control over somebody because of what he knew about what they had done or had photos of him or anything?” Blanche asked. .Read more:.Epstein Scandal: The case against Bondi - she’s been failing paedophile’s victims for years.“I never heard him. No,” she replied. During the interview, she said that neither Trump nor former President Bill Clinton engaged in massages or other activities. The material was released as the Justice Department begins to share documents about the sex-trafficking operation run by Epstein with the House Oversight Committee. The committee said it received 34,000 pages of documents, including the Maxwell transcript. “People shouldn’t be hurt but I’m in support of keeping it totally open,” Trump told reporters in the White House Friday. “You got a lot of people that could be mentioned in those files that don’t deserve to be.”A spokesperson for the Clinton Foundation didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.Lawyers for Maxwell did not immediately respond to a request for comment. They said in a letter to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer in July that she would be willing to testify in public if she were given clemency, which can only come from Trump. The committee declined the offer.The testimony provided by Maxwell is significant because it covers numerous areas, from questions about who may have had sexual relations with underage girls to Epstein’s sexual preferences and her belief that he didn’t kill himself in prison. However, she downplayed her role in and knowledge of Epstein’s operation. Critics argue that she isn’t a reliable witness.Federal prosecutors in Manhattan alleged Maxwell lied under oath about Epstein’s abuse of young girls during a 2016 deposition taken as part of a defamation lawsuit brought by one of his accusers, Virginia Giuffre. After Maxwell’s 2021 conviction on various charges, including sex-trafficking of a minor, prosecutors dropped the perjury counts to avoid subjecting the victims to “the trauma of testifying again.“Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to Florida charges, including procurement of minors to engage in prostitution. He was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell in 2019 as he was awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges involving underage girls. His death has been repeatedly ruled a suicide by authorities.Maxwell said she didn’t believe that he killed himself.“I do not believe he died by suicide,” she said.“If you don’t believe that there’s any truth to the allegations of blackmail or that he had kind of a list, or that he had reasons to have people hate him, why would somebody kill him in prison?” Blanche asked.“In prison, where I am, they will kill you or they will pay — somebody can pay a prisoner to kill you for $25 worth of commissary,” Maxwell said. “That’s about the going rate for a hit with a lock today.”Maxwell said Epstein and Clinton spent time together traveling on Epstein’s plane, but she doesn’t think the Democrat visited his private island.She also let on that she’s an admirer of Trump.“I admire his extraordinary achievement in becoming the president now,” Maxwell said. “And I like him, and I’ve always liked him. So that is the sum and substance of my entire relationship with him.”.© 2025 Bloomberg L.P.

Ghislaine Maxwell tells DOJ she saw no misconduct by Trump

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