Washington (BN24) – Ghislaine Maxwell, serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking crimes linked to Jeffrey Epstein, said she does not believe Epstein died by suicide, according to newly released transcripts from a Justice Department interview.
In the transcript of her 2020 interview with then–Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Maxwell rejected the medical examiner’s ruling that Epstein hanged himself inside a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
“I do not believe he died by suicide,” Maxwell said during the exchange, insisting she remains skeptical of the official account of his death.
Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 of grooming and trafficking teenage girls for Epstein, also addressed her relationship with President Donald Trump. She said she first met him around 1990 through her father, British media tycoon Robert Maxwell, who “was friendly” with Trump and “liked him very much.”
“President Trump was always very cordial and very kind to me,” she said. “I admire his extraordinary achievement in becoming president, and I’ve always liked him. That is the sum and substance of my entire relationship with him.”
She added that while Epstein and Trump were “friendly,” she did not believe they were “close friends.”
The transcript also included questions about a Wall Street Journal report alleging that Trump submitted a message to a birthday album prepared for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003. Maxwell said she remembered seeing the book but denied any recollection of a note or letter from Trump. “There was nothing from President Trump,” she stated.
Maxwell further claimed she never knew Epstein to act as an FBI source or to communicate with intelligence agencies. “If he was for real, he would’ve bragged about it,” she said, dismissing speculation about Epstein’s alleged intelligence ties as “bull—-.”
Despite her claims in the transcript, prosecutors and Judge Alison Nathan have previously condemned Maxwell for refusing to accept responsibility for her crimes. At her sentencing, the judge noted that while Maxwell acknowledged the victims’ pain, she stopped short of admitting guilt. Maxwell is appealing her conviction.
