Updated August 22, 2025 at 5:44 PM EDT
The Justice Department on Friday released what it says is the complete transcript and audio recording of Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche's conversations with Ghislaine Maxwell last month.
Maxwell was the longtime partner of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and was sentenced to a 20-year prison term for helping Epstein sexually abuse underage girls. Blanche met with her in Tallahassee, Fla., over the course of two days in late July. The transcripts, running hundreds of pages in length, are marked "redacted."
Blanche posted the files on social media and said they were shared "in the interest of transparency."
In a statement, an attorney for Maxwell said she told the truth in the interview and insisted she is a scapegoat.
"Ms. Maxwell answered every question," said attorney David Markus. "She did not refuse to respond and did not dodge any question. She supported her answers with documents and other objective evidence. Her demeanor and credibility are clear for anyone to hear. She was able to do this despite five torturous years in custody, some of which in the worst imaginable conditions."
The Trump administration has faced increased pressure from Democrats as well as some supporters inside the GOP to share more information about any files it has on Epstein and his case.
What she said about President Trump
Over the course of the interview, Maxwell was asked about a wide array of officials who may have known or been in contact with Epstein, including President Trump. Epstein and Trump belonged to the same Palm Beach social circle, but Trump has long maintained his friendship with Epstein ended before the disgraced financier was indicted for soliciting prostitution 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 never witnessed him in any "inappropriate setting."
"I actually never saw the President in any type of massage setting. 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," Maxwell said.
Asked about Trump's relationship with Epstein, Maxwell said she did not think they were "close friends."
"I don't recall ever seeing him in his house, for instance," she told prosecutors.
Epstein's reach
Maxwell was also asked about Epstein's interactions with former President Bill Clinton. When Blanche pressed her on whether Clinton had received a massage, Maxwell said no.
"I don't believe he did," she said, adding that the only time Epstein and Clinton spent time together was on Epstein's plane.
"So they spent time on the plane together, and I don't believe there was ever a massage on the plane. So that would've been the only time that I think that President Clinton could have even received a massage. And he didn't, because I was there," she said.
The interviews provide insight into the connections Epstein was able to forge with some of the most well-known and influential figures in government, business and culture — even if those relationships were not themselves known to have been nefarious.
Among those discussed in the interview are figures such as Bill Gates, actors like Chris Tucker and Kevin Spacey, and current Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy. Maxwell said she was unaware of any inappropriate activity involving either of them, though she did share that she and Epstein had gone "dinosaur bone hunting in the Dakotas" with Kennedy.
An unusual meeting
Blanche's meeting with Maxwell was highly unusual for involving such a senior Justice Department official. Also at the interview were Diego Pestana, the acting associate deputy attorney general, Spencer Horn, an FBI special agent, and Mark Beard, deputy U.S. Marshal.
Maxwell and her legal team appear to be making a pitch for clemency in some form. As president, Trump has flexed his power to commute — or shorten — existing prison terms, and to pardon people who have offered him support in the past. Within days of her interview with Blanche, she was moved from a federal prison in Florida to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas. Officials did not explain the reason for the transfer.
The release of the transcripts on Friday came on the same day that the Justice Department was due to begin sharing a first wave of files from its probes into Epstein and Maxwell with members of the House Oversight Committee. The committee subpoenaed the agency for the records earlier this month.
The panel's chairman, James Comer, R-Ky., says he plans to make at least some of the records available to the public, but has faced criticism from Democrats — and some Republicans — who say they worry the release will be far from comprehensive.
Copyright 2025 NPR
