‘The President Was Never Inappropriate With Anybody,’ Maxwell Tells DOJ

Ghislaine Maxwell says she never saw any inappropriate behavior by President Trump, President Clinton or other high-profile figures during her time with her former paramour and business associate, deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to newly released audio recordings and transcripts from the Justice Department.As she awaits a decision in her request for a new trial — or even a pardon — following a 20-year conviction for five counts of sex trafficking and conspiracy, Maxwell offered only positive recollections of the many glitterati, including President Trump, whom she met while connected to Epstein.“President Trump was always very cordial and very kind to me,” Maxwell said. “I admire his extraordinary achievement in becoming the President now. And I like him, and I’ve always liked him,” Maxwell told Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche during her two-day meetings conducted last month before her surprise transfer to a minimum-security prison in Texas.Describing dozens of interactions, the former socialite discussed how she enjoyed visiting the president’s Palm Beach estate, Mar-a-Lago; how she befriended President Clinton; how Epstein had difficulty having sex because of a heart condition; and how limited their sexual relationship was as a result. Maxwell also denied recruiting young women for Mr. Epstein from Mr. Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago estate. “I’ve never recruited a masseuse from Mar-a-Lago for that, as far as I remember. I can’t ever recollect doing that,” Maxwell told Mr. Blanche. When asked by Mr. Blanche if she ever witnessed Mr. Trump receiving a massage or heard Epstein discuss it, Maxwell responded, “Never.”“I actually never saw the President in any kind of massage setting. I never witnessed the President in any inappropriate setting of any kind. In the times that I was with him, he was a gentleman in all respects. The President was never inappropriate with anybody,” Maxwell told Mr. Blanche. She also said she never saw a bawdy card sent to Epstein by Mr. Trump to mark Epstein’s 50th birthday. A recent Wall Street Journal article suggested Mr. Trump’s message was included in a leather-bound book Maxwell had assembled as a gift for Epstein.Maxwell estimated that Epstein and Mr. Clinton traveled on Epstein’s private plane about “26 times or whatever” but denied seeing Mr. Clinton receiving a massage.“They spent time on the plane together, and I don’t believe there was ever a massage on the plane. That would’ve been the only time I think President Clinton could have even received a massage — and he didn’t, because I was there,” Maxwell said.In the opening moments of their July 24 interview, Mr. Blanche explained to Maxwell that the conversation “wasn’t a cooperation agreement.”He added, “By you meeting with us today, we’re really just meeting. I’m not promising to do anything.” The meeting, which she had prompted through her attorney, David Oscar Markus, was in Maxwell’s estimation the first time a government official spoke with her. “I did tell him that I would be very keen to talk to anyone, because no one from the government, at any time, ever in the — since the inception of the case, so dating back to the early 2000s, has ever spoken to me, and indeed, I believe ever reached out to me at any time to even speak to me. And that includes up to when I was indicted and prosecuted,” Maxwell told Mr. Blanche.The Justice Department’s decision to release the interviews, which took place July 24 and July 25, follows weeks of unsuccessful attempts to compel the federal courts to release testimony and exhibits from Maxwell and Epstein’s respective grand jury hearings.“In the interest of transparency, @TheJusticeDept is releasing the complete transcript and audio of my proffer of Ms. Maxwell,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote on X Friday.The release of the transcripts also comes after weeks of unsuccessful attempts by the Trump administration to divert attention from its handling of the Epstein investigation.Last month, the Justice Department and the FBI released a brief memo concluding they had no evidence that Epstein did not commit suicide or that he possessed a “client list” that he used to blackmail powerful people with whom he socialized. The announcement, coming after the Trump administration had promised major disclosures about Epstein — and coming from FBI leaders who’d previously, in the private sector, expressed strong beliefs that the government was covering up dark secrets about Epstein — caused distress among many MAGA supporters.Ms. Bondi clarified her comments to Fox News, saying she was referring to an Epstein “file,” not a client list. The Bureau of Prisons’s decision to move Maxwell, convicted in 2022 for her role in Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring — which involved victims below the legal age of consent — to Camp Bryan was considered by a federal prison consultant to be “highly unusual.” To transfer Maxwell to Camp Bryan — which counts the Theranos founder, Elizabeth Holmes, and a “Real Housewife,” Jen Shah, as inmates — from FCI Tallahassee would usually require a Personal Safety Factor waiver.In the past, granting a PSF waiver to a sex offender was “virtually unheard of,” a federal prison consultant, Christopher Zoukis, tells the Sun. Since her transfer, BOP officials have enhanced Camp Bryan’s security capabilities by deploying its Counter Terrorism and Special Operations units to monitor threats and communications from both inside and outside the prison.

‘The President Was Never Inappropriate With Anybody,’ Maxwell Tells DOJ

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