DOJ releases transcripts from Ghislaine Maxwell interview – National & International News
Ghislaine Maxwell’s hours-long interviews reveal more about her complicated relationship with Epstein than about any criminal activity.
DOJ releases transcripts from Ghislaine Maxwell interview
The Department of Justice has released written transcripts and audio recordings from two days of interviews with Jeffrey Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell. The interview between Maxwell and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche took place last month at the low security prison in Tallahassee, FL, where she was serving her 20-year sentence. Maxwell, who was convicted on sex trafficking charges in 2022, has since been moved to a minimum security prison camp in Texas, which has stirred much controversy.
The transcripts run to hundreds of pages in total and news outlets examining them have so far not unearthed any major bombshells. More than anything, the text reveals Maxwell’s unreliability as a witness and her desire to minimize her knowledge of or involvement in any criminality. When asked direct questions matters that might incriminate herself, Epstein or others, Maxwell often pleads her faulty memory (which she says resulted from a lengthy stretch in solitary confinement). However, she is quite definitive in asserting that she never witnessed any inappropriate or abusive behavior by Epstein or any of his associates towards any of the young women and girls in Epstein’s orbit. Maxwell is still appealing her conviction and any such admissions would be detrimental to that. She does admit that “somebody’s [idea of ] inappropriate and mine may be different”.
Maxwell also proclaims that there was no “client list” and rejects any notion that Epstein was blackmailing anyone over their misdeeds with young women or girls. She also claimed that Epstein did not have cameras mounted in his various homes to record his guests. However, the New York Times recently revealed there were cameras throughout Epstein’s 7-floor Manhattan townhouse.
Prince Andrew, the Clintons, Trump and “Bobby” Kennedy
Despite her memory issues, Maxwell offers clear, often vivid accounts of her relationships with famous figures, including the Clintons, Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson and others. Maxwell considered the former Duchess of York a rival for Epstein’s affections. She also portrays herself as having a closer relationship to Bill Clinton than Epstein did. She even claims to have been “central” in helping the Clintons set up the Clinton Global Initiative, though she believes Epstein later tried to “insert himself” into that project.
Maxwell was also quite lucid in explaining away her presence in the infamous photo of Prince Andrew and Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre in a way which completely exonerates her, while also claiming the photo is fake. Maxwell also lays much of the blame for the trafficking of minors on Giuffre herself. Giuffre’s name and the names of other accusers are redacted, but it is clear who she is speaking about from context.
When asked about Trump’s well-documented relationship with Epstein, Maxwell sought to minimize it, and emphasize that Trump was “a gentleman in all respects”. She also went out of her way to flatter Trump and praise his political success. She also said she and Epstein went on a dinosaur-bone hunting trip with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and that she never witnessed any inappropriate behavior on his part.
Money transfers and Epstein’s business dealings
Maxwell was most evasive when asked about over $30 million which Epstein transferred to her accounts in the latter years of their relationship. Prosecutors have alleged that this was payment for Maxwell’s services in helping Epstein to procure young women. Maxwell at times claimed not to remember having received these funds. At other times, she said Epstein might have given her the funds to support her in various entrepreneurial ventures.
In general, Epstein’s shadowy financial dealings have gone largely unscrutinized both by the press and the public. This is despite an ample paper trail, some of which has become public through court proceedings, but much of which remains under wraps. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) recently demanded government transparency on over $1.5 billion in suspicious transactions by Epstein, which Wyden said is indicative of money laundering. Some have even alleged that Epstein helped Maxwell’s media mogul father Robert Maxwell hide £800 million in funds that Mr. Maxwell embezzled from his companies’ pension funds shortly before his mysterious drowning death in 1991. That would be over $2.5 billion in 2025 terms.
Ghislaine denies any business connection between Epstein and her father prior to the latter’s death. In her interview, she denies having “sophisticated” knowledge of Epstein’s business dealings, which she claims Epstein did not share with her. However, she also implies that she herself sometimes gave Epstein investment tips and helped Epstein forge relationships with wealthy people in her social circles in London and New York.
Maxwell does not believe Epstein killed himself
When Blanche asked Maxwell whether she believed Epstein killed himself, Maxwell’s attorney David Markus interjected and asked for a break before she could answer. After a break of less than 20 minutes, they did not immediately return to the topic. When they did, Maxwell said that she does not believe Epstein died by suicide. However, she did not lay the blame on any conspiracy by Epstein’s associates who might have feared he would incriminate them. She called the idea “ludicrous,” reasoning that “if that is what they wanted, they would’ve had plenty of opportunity when he wasn’t in jail. And if they were worried about blackmail or anything from him, he would’ve been a very easy target”.
Maxwell instead blamed the “the mismanagement and inefficiencies and total dereliction of duty at the Bureau of Prisons”. She theorized that Epstein might have been killed in a jailhouse hit ordered by a fellow inmate for unknown reasons. “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.”
Interview reveals Maxwell’s complicated relationship with Epstein
Maxwell had a close association with Epstein for over 15 years, and if there were any revelations in this interview, they were of her complicated feelings about their relationship. Throughout the interview, Maxwell refers to her old partner-in-crime only as “Epstein” rather than by his given name. She claims the pair only slept together once and implies that she regarded the relationship as being more serious than he did. Maxwell also repeatedly expressed a dislike of the word “relationship”, whether between herself and Epstein or Epstein and anyone else. She instead declares she was more of an employee where Epstein was concerned.
Following the death of her father, Maxwell acknowledges became financially and emotionally dependent on Epstein, who she said was always “generous” with her. “But he kept a lot to himself and he didn’t like to share. He was not a sharer,” she said, “Well, at least not with me”. Whether that’s true or simply meant to distance herself from his crimes is difficult to say. Though she claims never to have witnessed any impropriety herself, Maxwell says she does believe that Epstein did commit “some” of the sexual misdeeds he is accused of.
While acknowledging Epstein’s generosity towards her, Maxwell also seeks to portray herself as another Epstein “victim”, a grace she does not typically extend to his (and her) actual victims. She implies throughout that Epstein liked to keep her in his shadow and financially dependent on him. In her account, this dynamic continued even after she had distanced herself from him. However, she said she was “hoping for him to be more helpful” when Virginia Giuffre sued her for defamation after Maxwell called Giuffre’s accusations “obvious lies”. It was that lawsuit in 2015 that ultimately led to criminal charges against both Epstein and Maxwell.
