Ghislaine Maxwell, a former close associate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, told the Justice Department she “never witnessed” President Trump in an “inappropriate setting,” according to a transcript released Friday.
“I think they were friendly like people are in social settings,” Maxwell told Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche of Trump’s relationship with Epstein. “I don’t — I don’t think they were close friends or, I certainly never witnessed the president in any of — I don’t recall ever seeing him in his house, for instance.
“I actually never saw the president in any type of massage setting,” she added. “I never witnessed the president in any inappropriate setting in anyway. The president was never inappropriate with anybody. In the times that I was with him, he was a gentleman in all respects.”
Maxwell sat for interviews with the Justice Department over two days: July 24 and July 25. Transcripts and audio recordings of those interviews were published by the department Friday.
The Justice Department also released a first tranche of thousands of pages of documents from the “Epstein Files” to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Friday, pursuant to a subpoena from the panel. The transcript of Maxwell’s interview was included in that release to the committee, a spokesperson said.
Maxwell, a longtime associate of Epstein, was convicted in 2021 on sex trafficking charges and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Earlier this year, she urged the Supreme Court to review her case; the Justice Department had pushed the court to reject that appeal.
Epstein, accused in several cases of sex trafficking young girls, ran in high-powered circles with figures that included Trump, former President Clinton, Britain’s Prince Andrew and a number of other celebrities and ultrawealthy people.
Trump has been asked repeatedly about releasing more information around the Epstein case. He has said he would support releasing credible information but has also expressed exasperation with the focus on the case, including from his own supporters.
The president has also declined to rule out pardoning Maxwell, saying only that he has the power to do so but hasn’t considered it.
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