August 22, 2025 – Justice Department releases transcripts from Ghislaine Maxwell’s interview

Our live coverage of the release of the DOJ transcript of Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s interview with Ghislaine Maxwell has wrapped for the day. You can learn about the details if you scroll through the posts below.

The Justice Department today released transcripts and audio from an interview between Jeffrey Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

CNN Senior White House Correspondent Kristen Holmes explains why the Department of Justice is releasing the information now. Watch here:

New details about the relationship between Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein were revealed in the full transcript released today of an interview last month with the Justice Department.

Maxwell answered hours of questions from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

Here are some of the top lines from the 377-page document:

CNN’s Aditi Sangal, Elise Hammond, Casey Gannon, Katelyn Polantz, Kara Scannell, Marshall Cohen, Sarah Ferris, Kristen Holmes, Alayna Treene, Holmes Lybrand and Hannah Rabinowitz contributed reporting to this post.

While the public has learned a good deal of information after the Justice Department released a transcript of an interview with Jeffrey Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, outstanding questions still remain.

According to Elie Honig, CNN senior legal analyst, the verity of Maxwell’s answers to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche is still up for debate. Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking minors following a four-week trial in 2021. She is appealing.

“I don’t know how DOJ could put this out there as some sort of truth-teller telling us the truth. It’s really hard to swallow,” Honig told CNN tonight.

And as a prosecutor who worked for the Southern District of New York around the same time as Blanche, Honig questioned the deputy attorney general’s “odd” style of interviewing Maxwell.

“I’ve done countless interviews like this. Todd has done countless interviews like this. I know that I know how to do it, and I know that Todd knows how to do it. And this is not it,” Honig said.

He said Blanche “sort of hurried” through his line of questioning, which led him to ask: “What was the point?” While Honig said he doesn’t know, he added that he thinks the interview may have been “to exonerate Donald Trump.”

“And, look, on the face, Ghislaine Maxwell does exonerate Trump and there’s nothing to the contrary anywhere else on the record,” Honig said. “But politically, if this is designed to promote transparency, I think it’s going to achieve the opposite effect.”

CNN’s Kara Scannell and Evan Perez contributed reporting.

Todd Blanche during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, DC on Feb. 12.

James Marsh, an attorney who represented some of the victims of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, celebrated the Justice Department’s release of Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s interview with Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

Marsh told CNN’s Phil Mattingly that he had “been trying to lower expectations about this transcript and the so-called DOJ records for weeks now,” adding that the transcript released today is more of the same of what they have heard from Maxwell “over decades.”

“She has a really good recall of his finances, the deals that he was involved in, intricate details of the people that he knew. But when it comes to the controversial things about this case — the underage sex trafficking, the possible links to intelligence, how Jeffrey Epstein got all of his money, power and influence — she’s a little bit more vague and very studied in her responses,” Marsh said, adding that it is “not surprising” given that she has appealed her conviction.

He went on to say Maxwell is “sort of damned if she does and damned if she doesn’t.”

“If she tells the full truth, everything she absolutely knows about Jeffrey Epstein, the public is not going to view her in good light. And certainly she’s got these cases on appeal. She’s trying to get a commutation, I’m sure. She’s trying to get a reduction in her sentence or an outright pardon,” Marsh said. “So this was probably about the best we could get for her under those circumstances.”

Scroll below to read the full transcript of the interview that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche conducted with Ghislaine Maxwell.

This undated trial evidence image obtained December 8, 2021, from the US District Court for the Southern District of New York shows Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein.

We are recapping the key findings from the released 337-page transcript of the interview that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche conducted with Ghislaine Maxwell last month.

Here’s the latest batch of updates:

No client list: Maxwell said there is no Epstein client list, and gave an explanation, which seemed to confuse Blanche.

Birthday book: She referred to her notes as she tried to recount different financial clients that Epstein kept. When Blanche asked about the notes, Maxwell’s attorney responded, “not the birthday book,” appearing to crack a joke about a reported collection of letters Maxwell had compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday that included one bearing Donald Trump’s name. Trump has repeatedly denied writing the letter and sued The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the letter, for defamation.

Bizarre exchange: Maxwell acknowledged that Epstein preferred younger women, of legal age, but said he liked them not because of anything sexual but because they were “invigorating” and “up to date on music” and brought new “ideas” to the table.

Bill Clinton: Maxwell said to her knowledge that the former president never received a massage while in her presence and never went to Epstein’s private island.

Admiring Trump: Maxwell complimented Trump for “his extraordinary achievement” of becoming president. She said she only visited Mar-a-Lago once or twice, for an event, alone. Epstein, who she described to be in closer touch with Trump than her, visited separately.

Meanwhile, in the present-day Trump world: The president’s team discussed releasing the audio and transcripts for several weeks, officials familiar with the matter told CNN. Many in the administration argued against resurfacing the Epstein story, but others insisted that releasing the material would help them better control the narrative.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in June.

Ghislaine Maxwell told Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche that she once went on a dinosaur bone hunting trip with Jeffrey Epstein and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and she said that she “never saw anything inappropriate with Mr. Kennedy.”

“Bobby knew Mr. Epstein,” Maxwell said. “How do you know that?” Blanche asked. “Because we went on a trip together,” she said. “Dinosaur bone hunting in the Dakotas.”

“Do you have any recollection of Mr. Kennedy – of there being anything inappropriate with Mr. Kennedy and masseuses or young women on the trip you just talked about?” Blanche asked.

“I never saw anything inappropriate with Mr. Kennedy,” Maxwell said.

Maxwell, when asked whether RFK Jr. ever received a massage, added: “if I didn’t make it clear, I will reiterate it. I never, ever saw any man doing something inappropriate with a woman of any age. I never saw inappropriate habits.”

“Now, somebody’s inappropriate and mine may be different, but – we’re not talking about anything that resembles the accusations that we’ve discussed here,” Maxwell said. “So that would be a flat no to any man.”

Maxwell told Blanche she didn’t know much about Epstein’s relationship with RFK Jr. because Epstein “kept a lot to himself” and “was not a sharer.”

“Well, at least not with me,” she said.

Boxes she brought in during the interview, Maxwell said, were filled with legal material she brought – explaining how she was trying to recall details during questioning.

Ghislaine Maxwell told Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche that she was responsible for hiring electricians for all of Jeffrey Epstein’s properties around the world, and that she was not aware of any secret surveillance systems.

Rumors have long swirled around accusations that Epstein covertly recorded powerful men illegally engaging with underage girls and then used that footage as blackmail.

No such videos have ever been made public, though pictures have emerged about alleged cameras hidden inside his Manhattan townhouse.

He had a few cameras installed “where he kept his briefcase” on the ground floor of his Palm Beach home, Maxwell said, because he “noticed money was being stolen.”

As Ghislaine Maxwell tried to recount different financial clients that Jeffrey Epstein kept, she referred back to notes she had made in preparation for the interview kept inside a “book.”

“What book are you using,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche asked her as she rifled through her notes. “What is that?”

Maxwell responded, “I wrote some notes for the meeting… is that alright?

Blanche assured Maxwell that it was fine, saying that he was “just curious” what she was “looking at.”

“Not the birthday book,” Maxwell’s attorney David Markus said, appearing to crack a joke about a reported collection of letters Maxwell had compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday that included one bearing Donald Trump’s name. Trump has repeatedly denied writing the letter and sued The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the letter, for defamation.

Maxwell agreed, saying, “It’s not the birthday book. We are going to come to that, I’m sure.”

“Yeah,” Blanche responded.

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Holmes breaks down DOJ's 'unprecedented' decision to release audio from Maxwell interview

02:02 • Source: CNN

We are recapping the key findings from a transcript of the interview that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche conducted with Ghislaine Maxwell last month.

The Justice Department released the 337-page transcript today, and it features the names of prominent figures, including President Donald Trump.

Here’s what it says:

Find our last recap here

Ghislaine Maxwell was asked by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in her interview if she recalled Donald Trump being included in a 50th birthday book that she made for Jeffrey Epstein’s birthday.

“I don’t,” Maxwell said when asked if she remembered if Trump submitted a letter or card for the book. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this summer that the collection of letters included one with Trump’s name on it. The president has repeatedly denied writing the note and filed a libel lawsuit against the news outlet.

Maxwell assembled the book for Epstein’s 50th birthday.

“Epstein would talk about his 50th, he said, I don’t know what I’m going to do. And I said, well, these are nice things, my mom did this book for my dad. He said, I love that idea,” she said.

Maxwell recalled seeing parts of the birthday book during discovery before her trial.
“President Trump, there was nothing from President Trump,” Maxwell said.

She also said she did not remember seeing any picture of a naked woman, a detail that was previously reported by the Journal.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche challenged convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell on the sexual behavior of her longtime associate and alleged co-conspirator, Jeffrey Epstein.

“Did he seem to you to be a sexual deviant?” Blanche said, grasping for the right term.

The deputy attorney general continued, “Young women were everywhere. Multiple massages on some days. Flew with the women to the island, to New York, Paris. There’s always women, they’re always rubbing him, giving him massages. I think it would be an understatement to say that that’s not normal?”

“I agree,” Maxwell replied.

In one bizarre exchange, Maxwell acknowledged that Epstein preferred younger women, of legal age, but said he liked them not because of anything sexual but because they were “invigorating” and “up to date on music” and brought new “ideas” to the table.

“If he had been creepy… I don’t think the women would have been there,” Maxwell said.

President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he departs the White House on August 1.

President Donald Trump’s team had been discussing releasing the audio and transcripts of Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s interview with Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell for several weeks, keeping a close eye on public attention surrounding the matter as they debated multiple options for what to do, officials familiar with the matter told CNN.

White House officials began discussing ways to get ahead of the story, including potentially releasing the audio and transcripts.

While many in the administration argued against resurfacing the Epstein story, officials said, others insisted the White House needed to be more proactive in dealing with the fallout of the Epstein files, and they believed releasing the materials from the Maxwell interview would help them better control the narrative.

Another concern with publishing the transcript and audio was that many parts of it would need to be redacted, two White House officials told CNN. One of the officials said that Maxwell shared a number of names of victims that had never been made public.

The Trump administration decided at some point this month that they wanted to release the audio and transcript of Blanche’s interview with Maxwell, sources familiar with the decision tell CNN. In early August, the Justice Department was going through the materials and digitizing, transcribing and redacting the audio, CNN previously reported.

Today, when the story was likely to take center stage anyway — with the Department of Justice set to deliver a tranche of Epstein-related documents to the House Oversight Committee — the Justice Department published the transcripts.

As CNN reads through the transcript of the interview that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche conducted with Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, it appears that President Donald Trump is “getting what he wants,” said Dave Aronberg, former Democratic state attorney for Palm Beach County.

He also underscored that Maxwell was sentenced in 2022 to 20 years in federal prison for carrying out a years-long scheme with the disgraced financier to groom and sexually abuse underage girls. “You had multiple individuals say she was part of the abuse,” Aronberg said. “You can’t believe anything this woman says.”

Former President Bill Clinton speaks the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 21, 2024.

Ghislaine Maxwell said to her knowledge that President Bill Clinton never received a massage while in her presence and never went to Jeffrey Epstein’s private island.

Clinton traveled on Epstein’s plane several times. He has maintained he never did anything wrong and didn’t know about Epstein’s crimes.

“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,” Maxwell said.

“President Clinton was my friend, not Epstein’s friend,” Maxwell told Blanche. Maxwell attended the wedding of Chelsea Clinton as a guest of her boyfriend.

Maxwell said she did not believe Epstein had “an independent friendship” with Clinton outside of the charity work. She said she had “no memory” of him in any of Epstein’s properties, including his private island, known as Little St James.

“He never. Absolutely never went. And I can be sure of that because there’s no way he would’ve gone – I don’t believe there’s any way that he would’ve gone to the island, had I not been there. Because I don’t believe he had an independent friendship, if you will, with Epstein,’ Maxwell said. She said she saw no warmth between Clinton and Epstein saying, “He was a rich guy with a plane.”

And when asked if Epstein had any “dealings” with Hillary Clinton,” Maxwell said no, though Maxwell said she herself had been to the Clintons’ house multiple times.

She said the last time she recalled seeing President Clinton was as recently as 2018 in Los Angeles and they had dinner.

Ghislaine Maxwell also was complimentary of Donald Trump during her interview with Department of Justice officials, according to the transcript.

Maxwell said that she believed she had met Trump beginning in the 1990s, through her father, and was in touch with him socially for about a decade.

She described that Jeffrey Epstein was closer in touch with Trump than she had been.
She said she only visited Mar-a-Lago once or twice, for an event, alone. Epstein visited separately.

“I don’t know Epstein’s – if he had – whatever the nature of the President’s friendship, if you will, or however you want to define that with Epstein, I was – never witnessed,” she told Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on the first day of her two-day interview.

“I think they were friendly like people are in social settings,” she added. “I don’t think they were close friends.”

Ghislaine Maxwell said in her interview with the Justice Department that there is no Jeffrey Epstein client list.

“There is no list. We’ll start with that. The genesis of that story, I can actually trace for you from its absolute inception, if that is what you’re interested in,” Maxwell said.

Maxwell goes on to explain to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche the origin of the “client list” story.

In 2009, Epstein was facing civil lawsuits. An attorney named Brad Edwards, who was working for the law firm Rothstein, Rosenfeldt & Adler, became a confidential informant for the FBI. The FBI was able to then obtain a list from one of Epstein’s former butlers, Alfredo Rodriguez.

“The truth is that Alfredo Rodriguez was deposed twice, once in July and once in August. And in the July deposition, told Brad Edwards that he had handwritten notes or a journal, whatever, in the deposition,” Maxwell said.

According to the transcript, Blanche was confused by Maxwell’s explanation of the origin of the list, asking if the list was “manufactured” or “fake.” Maxwell said that there are five people controlling the narrative of the story behind the client list, which creates the confusion.

Maxwell also said Edwards marked up a book of people who were involved, but noted that she does not remember Trump being involved.

“Brad Edwards says that he got Alfredo Rodriguez to mark up the book of 19 all the people who were involved … I don’t remember what it does with Donald Trump. I don’t – I don’t know. You’d have to look. I don’t have it,” Maxwell said.

Maxwell ended her story emphasizing again she was not aware of a client list.

“Absolutely no. There is no list. There is no – I’m not aware of any blackmail. I never heard that. I never saw it and I never imagined it,” Maxwell said.

The Metropolitan Correctional Center jail in New York, where Jeffrey Epstein was found dead, on August 10, 2019.

Ghislaine Maxwell’s interview comes as President Donald Trump and his administration have sought to tamp down conspiracy theories about Jeffrey Epstein. But on at least one major count – Epstein’s suicide – it’s likely to fuel them.

Maxwell was asked to speculate on who might have killed him, and she said she didn’t know.

Maxwell did differ from many conspiracy theories about Epstein’s suicide in that she said she didn’t believe he was killed because he was blackmailing people. Instead, she suggested it could have been an attack unrelated to that.

“In prison, where I am, they will kill you or they will pay – somebody can pay a prisoner to kill you for $25 worth of commissary,” Maxwell said. “That’s about the going rate for a hit with a lock today.”

A recent Reuters-Ipsos poll found Americans said 60-12% that the think the government is hiding information about Epstein’s death.

A spokesperson for the House Oversight Committee said in a statement that the panel has received the first batch of records related to Jeffrey Epstein from the Justice Department and it contains “thousands of pages of documents.”

The committee also reiterated what it has previously said: That it plans to make the records public, but will first review them to ensure that victims’ are protected.