Politics
Jeffrey Epstein accomplice says she never saw Trump in ‘any inappropriate setting’
- Maxwell says President Trump was “never inappropriate with anybody.”
- Trump faces political dissent over handling of Epstein case.
- Maxwell seeks clemency from Trump, moved to less-restrictive prison.
Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for helping Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls, told a top Justice Department official in July that she was not aware of any “client list” belonging to the late financier and never saw President Donald Trump behave inappropriately, according to a transcript of an interview released on Friday.
“I never witnessed the President in any inappropriate setting in any way,” Maxwell said, according to the transcript of her two-day interview last month with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. “The President was never inappropriate with anybody.”
During the interview, the imprisoned 63-year-old former British socialite also said she did not witness any sexual abuse by Epstein, her longtime boyfriend, and did not implicate any other prominent individuals in wrongdoing.
“He kept a lot to himself and he didn’t like to share,” Maxwell said, of Epstein. “He was not a sharer. Well, at least not with me.”
The Justice Department’s release of the transcripts and audio recordings of Maxwell’s interview comes amid intense public curiosity about Epstein, a multimillionaire who socialised with the cultural and political elite, and as Trump, a Republican, tries to tamp down a political crisis stemming from the Justice Department’s decision not to release files from its investigation of Epstein despite its earlier pledges to do so.
Maxwell spoke with Blanche on the condition that she not be prosecuted for any self-incriminating statements she were to make, but she could be prosecuted if she lied in the interview.
Maxwell was previously charged with perjury for lying in a 2016 deposition about her knowledge of Epstein’s alleged behavior, though prosecutors dropped those charges after a jury found her guilty of sex trafficking in 2021.
During Maxwell’s month-long trial in Manhattan, jurors heard emotional and explicit testimony from four women who said Maxwell recruited and groomed them for abuse by Epstein. Three of the four said Maxwell herself touched their bare breasts or took part in the encounters, which often began as massages.
Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He had pleaded not guilty.
Epstein’s death, coupled with his friendships with powerful people like Trump and former Democratic President Bill Clinton, has fueled conspiracy theories that other people were involved in his crimes, and that he was murdered to cover that up. No one other than he and Maxwell have been charged with crimes.
Blanche asked Maxwell if Epstein maintained any “client list.”
“There is no list that I am aware of,” Maxwell said.
Maxwell, who pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges brought against her in 2020, has asked the US Supreme Court to overturn her conviction. David Markus, Maxwell’s attorney, said in a statement on Friday that the interview supports Maxwell’s argument that she is innocent.
“She supported her answers with documents and other objective evidence. Her demeanor and credibility are clear for anyone to hear,” Markus said.
Markus has previously said Maxwell has not held discussions with Trump about a possible pardon, but that she would welcome “relief.”
‘Very cordial’
Blanche’s interview of Maxwell on July 24 and July 25 came as Trump sought to quell criticism from his conservative base of supporters and congressional Democrats over the Justice Department’s decision not to release the files.
A week after the interview, Maxwell was moved from a low-security prison facility in Florida to a less-restrictive prison camp in Texas.
Trump knew Epstein socially in the 1990s and early 2000s. During Maxwell’s trial the financier’s longtime pilot, Lawrence Visoski, testified that Trump flew on Epstein’s private plane multiple times. Trump has denied flying on the plane.
Maxwell told Blanche she never saw Trump receive a massage or engage in other inappropriate activity. Many of Epstein’s alleged victims say their unwanted sexual encounters with him began as massages.
“As far as I’m concerned, President Trump was always very cordial and very kind to me,” Maxwell said, according to the transcript. “And I just want to say that I admire his extraordinary achievement in becoming the President now.”
It is rare for a Justice Department official as senior as Blanche — who has also served as Trump’s personal lawyer — to directly interview a criminal defendant.
Blanche asked Maxwell about her and Epstein’s interactions with a spate of prominent Democrats including Bill and Hillary Clinton, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and billionaire Democratic donor George Soros. Maxwell did not implicate any of those individuals in wrongdoing.
Maxwell said she worked with Bill Clinton on his philanthropic endeavors, and that he used Epstein’s plane for a trip to Africa. But she said Clinton never visited Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands, where Epstein was accused of abusing some girls.
Bosnia’s national museum has defended a decision to donate funds from the display of a precious Jewish manuscript to the people of Gaza.
It said ticket sales to see the Sarajevo Haggadah, one of the most precious religious manuscripts of the Middle Ages, would be donated to “support the people of Palestine who suffer systematic, calculated and cold-blooded terror, directly by the state of Israel”.
The move drew intense criticism earlier this month from Jewish organisations, with some abroad accusing the museum of antisemitism.
But museum director Mirsad Sijaric, 55, stood by the decision and said he had received numerous messages of support from Jewish people around the world.
“Did we choose one of the sides? Yes, we chose one of the sides,” Sijaric told AFP.
‘Politicisation’
The museum’s donation will also include sales from a book about the Haggadah.
Sijaric insisted the move was “absolutely not” directed against Jewish people, but was instead a message of opposition to what was happening in Gaza.
“Feigning neutrality is siding with evil. In my opinion, this is pure evil, and one must oppose it.”
Several Jewish organisations criticised the museum’s announcement, including the New York-based Anti-Defamation League, which labelled it a “politicisation” of a “symbol of heritage, survival, and coexistence”.
Sitting in a glass cabinet in a specially designed room in the museum, the Haggadah has long been a treasured symbol of Sarajevo´s diversity.
The majority-Muslim city is also home to just under a thousand Jewish people.
Symbol of ‘shared life’
The Haggadah’s illuminated and well-preserved parchment pages narrate the creation of the world and the exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt.
Dating back to 1350, the intricately illustrated manuscript is believed to have been written near Barcelona, and brought to Sarajevo by Jews who were expelled from Spain in 1492.
It survived Nazi occupation and was kept safe during intensive shelling in the Bosnian War of the 1990s.
Jakob Finci, president of the Bosnian Jewish community, described the move as “bizarre” and “a bit offensive”.
“It tarnishes Sarajevo´s reputation and that of the Sarajevo Haggadah, the book that for many years has borne witness to Sarajevo´s multiethnic character and our shared life,” Finci said.
“I’ve heard a lot of criticism [of the move]… I have not seen any praise.”
Long kept in a safe and rarely displayed, the book has been more accessible since the special room opened in 2018 after a renovation paid for by France.
Its rich history and rarity continue to draw visitors and academics to the museum.
“I think it’s a way to support the situation of the Palestinians in Gaza,” said Italian Egyptologist Silvia Einaudi after viewing the manuscript.
“Gaza, why not?” said French visitor Paul Hellec. “It’s a tough topic at the moment. But there are also many other places where people are suffering.”
The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Out of 251 hostages seized by Hamas, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 62,819 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military.
- Xi to review troops, military hardware at Tiananmen Square.
- Parade marks Japan’s WWII surrender anniversary on Sept 3.
- Belarus, Iran, Indonesia, Serbia leaders amongst attendants.
BEIJING: Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un will attend a military parade in Beijing, marking the first public appearance of the two leaders alongside President Xi Jinping in a show of collective defiance amid Western pressure.
No Western leaders will be among the 26 foreign heads of state and government attending the parade next week with the exception of Robert Fico, prime minister of Slovakia, a European Union member state, according to the Chinese foreign ministry on Thursday.
Against the backdrop of China’s growing military might during the “Victory Day” parade on September 3, the three leaders will project a major show of solidarity not just between China and the Global South, but also with sanctions-hit Russia and North Korea.
Russia, which Beijing counts as a strategic partner, has been battered by multiple rounds of Western sanctions imposed after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with its economy on the brink of slipping into recession. Putin, wanted by the International Criminal Court, last travelled in China in 2024.
North Korea, a formal treaty ally of China’s, has been under United Nations Security Council sanctions since 2006 over its development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. Kim last visited China in January 2019.
Those attending the parade marking the formal surrender of Japan during World War II will include Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko, Iran’s President Masoud Pezashkian, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and South Korea’s National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik, said Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Hong Lei at a news conference.
Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic will also attend the parade.
The United Nations will be represented by Under-Secretary-General Li Junhua, who previously served in various capacities at the Chinese foreign ministry, including time as the Chinese ambassador to Italy, San Marino and Myanmar.
On the day, President Xi Jinping will survey tens of thousands of troops at Tiananmen Square alongside the foreign dignitaries and senior Chinese leaders.
The highly choreographed parade, to be one of China’s largest in years, will showcase cutting-edge equipment like fighter jets, missile defence systems and hypersonic weapons.
The Israeli military escalated its operations in and around Gaza City on Wednesday, targeting key areas amid ongoing tensions in the region. This military activity comes as U.S. President Donald Trump prepared to host a high-level meeting at the White House to discuss post-war strategies and reconstruction plans for the devastated Palestinian territory.
Officials highlighted the urgent need for coordinated efforts to address humanitarian challenges, restore infrastructure, and provide aid to civilians affected by the conflict, while also navigating the complex political and security dynamics in the region.
Israel is under mounting pressure both at home and abroad to end its almost two-year campaign in Gaza, where the United Nations has declared a famine.
Mediators have circulated a truce proposal which has been accepted by Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Whose October 2023 attack triggered the devastating war. But Israel has yet to give an official response.
On the ground, Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least 24 people on Wednesday.
The Israeli military, which is preparing to conquer Gaza City, said troops were operating on the outskirts of the territory’s largest city .
“To locate and dismantle terror infrastructure sites”.
As aid groups have warned against expanding the Israeli offensive, the army’s Arabic-language spokesman.
Avichay Adraee, said on X that Gaza City’s evacuation was “inevitable”.
The vast majority of the Gaza Strip’s population of more than two million people have been displaced at least once during the war.
In Jabalia, just north of Gaza City, resident Hamad al-Karawi said he had left his home after a message broadcast from a drone ordered people to evacuate immediately.
“We scattered out onto the streets with no place or home to take refuge in,” he told AFP.
The UN estimates that nearly a million people currently live in Gaza governorate, which includes Gaza City and its surroundings in the north of the territory.
Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said the US president would host top officials at the White House later on Wednesday to thrash out a detailed plan for post-war Gaza.
“It’s a very comprehensive plan we’re putting together,” Witkoff told Fox News, without offering more details.
Trump stunned the world earlier this year when he suggested the United States should take control of the Gaza Strip.
Clear out its inhabitants and redevelop it as seaside real estate.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the proposal which sparked a global outcry.
In Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood on Wednesday, residents reported heavy Israeli bombardment overnight.
“Warplanes struck several times, and drones fired throughout the night,” said Tala al-Khatib, 29.
“Some neighbours have fled… But wherever you flee, death follows you,” she said.
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