For weeks, the current administration has been hammered over its handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. President Donald Trump has referred to it as a hoax perpetrated by the Democrats, and Republican leaders have accused the other side of hypocrisy. Nevertheless, the Department of Justice (DOJ) may have tossed the public a bone by releasing transcripts and audio files of its interview with Epstein’s longtime associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Here are the key takeaways from the long-awaited files.
An Interview With Ghislaine Maxwell
In July, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche conducted a two-day interview with Ghislaine Maxwell. The newly published records could shine a positive spotlight on President Trump.
Maxwell told officials that she possibly met the real estate billionaire mogul in 1990 when her father was the owner of the New York Daily News. Epstein’s former girlfriend, convicted of sex trafficking in 2021, noted that she frequently visited the Mar-a-Lago estate and usually saw Trump alone, adding that she had not seen him since the mid-2000s.
“I actually never saw the president in any type of massage setting,” Maxwell said. “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.” Additionally, according to the transcript, when asked if Epstein or anyone else claimed Trump acted inappropriately with masseuses, Maxwell was definitive: “Absolutely never, in any context.”
In addition, Maxwell said she did not remember whether Trump submitted a card, letter, or note for Epstein’s 50th birthday leather-bound book. Regarding the birthday book she assembled, Maxwell added that “there was nothing from President Trump.” This was noteworthy because The Wall Street Journal reported in July that the president penned a “bawdy” note, which Trump denied and sued the newspaper over.
Death by Suicide
Epstein’s official cause of death was determined as suicide by hanging on Aug. 10, 2019, at the Metropolitan Correction Center in New York City. Due to suspicious circumstances, including the malfunction of two security cameras and the removal of his cellmate, numerous conspiracy theories have circulated. Maxwell may have further fueled the flames by rejecting the record.
Blanche asked Maxwell on the first day of their interview if she believed Epstein died by suicide. “I do not believe he died by suicide, no,” she said. At the same time, she also asserted that she had no reason to think Epstein was murdered in prison.
“I do not have any reason to believe that. And I also think it’s ludicrous, because if that — I also happen to think if that is what they wanted, they would’ve had plenty of opportunity when he wasn’t in jail,” Maxwell said. “And if they were worried about blackmail or anything from him, he would’ve been a very easy target.”
The Client List and Bill Clinton
It has long been speculated that Epstein managed an extensive blackmail operation, containing a client list involving high-profile individuals worldwide. The Justice Department recently concluded that no black book ever existed, and Maxwell corroborated this determination.
“There is no list. We’ll start with that,” Maxwell told Blanche. “The genesis of that story, I can actually trace for you from its absolute inception, if that is what you’re interested in.”
Maxwell’s attorney, David Markus, interjected, reiterating that “there’s no client list. Nothing like that.” Maxwell added: “No, there is nothing like that.”
Former President Bill Clinton, meanwhile, has been regularly connected to the Epstein scandal. However, Maxwell says she does not believe Clinton received a massage and was only observed on Epstein’s plane, adding that he was not a client.
“There was that, you know, the plane, they went on the plane 26 times or whatever. That would be one journey. 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.”
Thousands of Pages Heading to Congress
In July, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee issued a subpoena to the Department of Justice for the so-called Epstein files. The initiative was led by Democrats and garnered support from three Republicans.
In response to the subpoena, the Justice officials sent the first tranche of files related to the Epstein investigation to the panel. The batch comprises thousands of pages, including more than 300 pages of interviews with Ghislaine Maxwell. Lawmakers say they will publicly publish the files after examining the material to ensure victims are not identified and make sure child sexual abuse records are redacted.
Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY), writing on X, said that the “Trump DOJ is moving at a pace far faster than anything ever produced by the Biden DOJ.” However, ranking member Robert Garcia (D-CA) says “the American People will not accept anything short of the full, unredacted Epstein files.”
‘Democrat Hoax’
President Trump is still calling the Epstein files a “Democrat hoax.” Speaking to reporters at the Oval Office on Aug. 22, Trump purported that the Democrats continue to bring up the case to distract from “the greatest six months, seven months in the history of the presidency.” Still, he reaffirmed his support for the Justice Department sending the documents to the committee.
“Innocent people shouldn’t be hurt. But I’m in support of keeping it totally open. I couldn’t care less. You got a lot of people that could be mentioned in those files that don’t deserve to be,” the president stated. “Because he knew everybody in Palm Beach. I don’t know anything about that.”