Justice Department releases Ghislaine Maxwell transcripts : NPR

In this July 2, 2020, the file photo, Audrey Strauss, American lawyer for the South New York district, underlines a photo of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at a press conference in New York.

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John Minchillo / AP

On Friday, the Ministry of Justice published what it says is complete recording and audio recording of the Deputy General Todd Blanche with Ghislaine Maxwell last month.

Maxwell was the long -standing partner of the sex offender sentenced Jeffrey Epstein and was sentenced to 20 years in prison for helping Epstein sexually abusing minor girls. Blanche met her in Tallahassee, Florida, during two days at the end of July. Transcriptions, performing hundreds of length pages, are marked “Raised”.

Blanche published files on social networks and said they were shared “in the interest of transparency”.

In a press release, a maxwell lawyer said she had told the truth in the interview and insisted that she was a scapegoat.

“Ms. Maxwell answered each question,” said lawyer David Markus. “She did not refuse to answer and did not dodge any questions. She supported her answers with documents and other objective evidence. Her behavior and credibility are clear for anyone.

The Trump administration faced increased pressure from Democrats as well as some GOP supporters to share more information on all the files he has on Epstein and his case.

What she said about President Trump

During the interview, Maxwell was questioned about a wide range of civil servants who may have known or got in touch with Epstein, including President Trump. Epstein and Trump belonged to the same social circle of Palm Beach, but Trump has long maintained his friendship with Epstein ended before the disgrace financier was charged with prostitution solicitation in 2006.

Maxwell told Blanche that she may have met Trump at some point in 1990 because he had been friendly with her father. She said Trump “was always very cordial and very kind to me”, adding that she had never seen her in an “inappropriate setting”.

“I have never seen the president in any type of massage. I have never witnessed the president in an inappropriate framework in any way. The president was never inappropriate with anyone. In the time I was with him, he was a gentleman in all respects,” said Maxwell.

Asked about Trump’s relationship with Epstein, Maxwell said she didn’t think they were “close friends”.

“I do not remember having seen him in her house, for example,” she told prosecutors.

Port of Epstein

Maxwell was also asked about Epstein’s interactions with former President Bill Clinton. When Blanche pressed her to know if Clinton had received a massage, Maxwell said no.

“I don’t think he did,” she said, adding that the only time Epstein and Clinton spent time together was on Epstein plane.

“So they spent time on the plane together, and I don’t think there has never been massage on the plane. So it would be the only time I think that President Clinton could even have received a massage. And he did not do it, because I was there,” she said.

The interviews give an overview of the connections that Epstein was able to forge with some of the best known and most influential personalities of government, business and culture – even if these relationships were not themselves known for having been harmful.

Among those discussed in the interview are figures such as Bill Gates, actors Chris Tucker and Kevin Spacey, and current secretary for health and social services Robert F. Kennedy,, among others. Maxwell said that she was not aware of an inappropriate activity involving one of them, although she shared that she and Epstein had gone “dinosaur bone hunting in the Dakotas” with Kennedy.

An unusual meeting

The meeting of Blanche with Maxwell was very unusual to involve such a civil servant of the Ministry of Justice. Diego Pestana, the deputy prosecutor general, Spencer Horn, was also during the interview, the assistant assistant prosecutor general, an FBI special agent, and Mark Beard, US deputy marshal.

Maxwell and his legal team seem to make land for leniency in a form. As a president, Trump has fallen for his power to commute – or shorten – existing prison conditions and forgive the people who have offered him support in the past. A few days after her interview with Blanche, she was transferred from a federal prison in Florida to a minimum security prison camp in Texas. Officials did not explain the reason for the transfer.

On Friday, the publication of note statements occurred the same day as the Ministry of Justice shared a first wave of files from its probes in Epstein and Maxwell with members of the chamber supervision committee. The committee assigned the agency for files earlier this month.

The president of the Panel, James Comer, R -Ky., Says that he plans to put at least some of the files available to the public, but has faced criticism from the Democrats – and certain Republicans – who say they fear that the Liberation will be far from complete.