Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell said she never witnessed US President Donald Trump behave inappropriately, according to interviews released by the US Department of Justice on Friday.
“I actually never saw the President in any type of massage setting,” said Maxwell, who is currently serving 20 years for sex trafficking and other crimes.
“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,” she said.
Maxwell denies knowledge of ‘client list’
Maxwell, a British former socialite, also said she was not aware of any “client list” belonging to Epstein.
The Epstein case and his alleged list of clients have captured public attention due to both the nature of the crimes as well as his connection to high profile public figures, including Prince Andrew, former US President Bill Clinton, and Trump.
The US president has said his friendship with Epstein ended years before any scandal.
During his election campaign, Trump had promised to release the so-called “client list”, but backtracked once he was in office, amid allegations, including from Trump’s former ally Elon Musk, that his name was included.
Trump has been under mounting pressure from his Make American Great Again (MAGA) base to release documents relating to the Epstein case.
The New York financier died by apparent suicide in 2019 while in prison awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking teenage girls.
Maxwell denies Giuffre claims about Prince Andrew
In the transcripts, Maxwell said she did not introduce the UK’s Prince Andrew to Epstein.
She also denied allegations that Andrew had sex with Virginia Giuffre, who was 17 at the time, at her London home.
Maxwell claimed that the room Giuffre said the encounter took place in was too small.
The convicted sex trafficker also said a widely shared photo showing Andrew with his arm around Giuffre with Maxwell in the background was “literally a fake photo.”
Prince Andrew has strenuously denied the claims. He reached an out-of-court settlement with Giuffre in 2022.
Giuffre, who accused Epstein of sexual abuse and sex trafficking and who later moved to Australia, took her own life in April this year.
DoJ releases interview transcripts
The interviews with Maxwell were conducted by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, the Justice Department’s second-in-command, and were released on Friday.
The release of the interviews comes as the Trump administration scrambles to present itself as transparent regarding the Epstein case.
“Except for the names of victims, every word is included. Nothing removed. Nothing hidden,” said Blanche.
According to the transcripts, the interviews were conducted on July 24.
In the days that followed, Maxwell was moved from her low-security federal prison in Florida to a minimum-security prison in Texas.
Neither her lawyers nor prison officials explained the reason for the move.
Edited by: Karl Sexton
