Ghislaine Maxwell interview transcripts released by Justice Department
Washington DC - The US Justice Department on Friday released transcripts and audio recordings of an interview last month with Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted accomplice of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
"Except for the names of victims, every word is included. Nothing removed. Nothing hidden," said Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who conducted the interview.
Blanche, President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, said on X that the transcripts and audio were being released "in the interest of transparency."
Epstein, a wealthy financier with high-level connections, died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial for alleged sex trafficking of underage girls.
63-year-old Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted in 2021 of recruiting underage girls for Epstein.
She was moved from a prison in Florida to a minimum security facility in Texas following the interview with Blanche.
Trump's supporters have been obsessed with the Epstein case for years and have been up in arms since the FBI and Justice Department said in July that Epstein committed suicide, did not blackmail any prominent figures, and did not keep a "client list."
Trump was once a friend of Epstein and, according to The Wall Street Journal, the president's name was among hundreds found during a Justice Department review of the Epstein files, though there has not been evidence of wrongdoing.
A House of Representatives committee has subpoenaed the Epstein files and received a first batch of records on Friday from the Justice Department.
Cover photo: Handout / US District Court for the Southern District of New York / AFP