【By Observer Net, Yuan Jiaqi】

In July this year, the name of U.S. President Trump was revealed to have appeared multiple times in the latest batch of federal court documents related to the Epstein case, shaking the U.S. political arena again with the lingering effects of this old case.

At this critical moment, Todd Blanche, the second-highest-ranking official at the U.S. Department of Justice and Trump's former chief lawyer, suddenly intervened in the case and met with Maxwell, Epstein's accomplice and ex-girlfriend who is currently serving a sentence. Blanche's special status has led to widespread speculation, and U.S. media has also described this move as "extremely unusual."

According to a report by The Washington Post on the 22nd, the interview record was made public this Friday. During the two-day meeting with the Department of Justice, Maxwell discussed many details of the Epstein case.

At the beginning of the interview, Blanche asked her about her relationship with Epstein and Trump. Maxwell said that she maintained a friendly relationship with Trump and had admired him since they met in the 1990s.

"President Trump was always very kind and friendly to me," she added, "I just want to say that I really admire his remarkable achievement of ultimately becoming president. I like him, and I have always liked him."

Throughout the interview, Maxwell consistently defended Trump's reputation. She claimed that she had never seen Trump behave improperly or receive massage services.

Maxwell said, "I have never seen the president behave improperly in any situation. In all the time I spent with him, he never behaved improperly towards anyone. He is a gentleman in every way."

The report mentioned that at the end of the first day of the interview, Maxwell also voluntarily requested to add a statement to the record. She believed that Trump had been "innocently" involved in the case.

"By the way, I think the president was unnecessarily involved in these things," she said, "I am not a conspiracy theorist, and of course I do not believe everything I see. But I do believe that there are certain hostile forces in some areas that may use the president to defame him. I think this approach is very offensive."

The Washington Post noted that in the hundreds of pages of transcripts and recordings released by the Department of Justice, Maxwell's answers to questions about Trump were always the same.

According to earlier reports by U.S. media, this meeting was initiated by Maxwell herself. In 2022, Maxwell was convicted of assisting Epstein in luring, trafficking, and abusing dozens of minor girls and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. She is currently appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court. Her lawyers have also repeatedly mentioned the possibility of clemency.

The report pointed out that it remains unknown whether this testimony would satisfy the public at a time when the Trump administration was trying to quell widespread public anger over its handling of the Epstein case. There are also doubts about the authenticity of her testimony. Maxwell was accused of lying under oath before her 2021 trial. Legal experts also believe that she now has a strong motivation to say what the Trump administration wants to hear.

On July 24 local time, the U.S. Deputy Attorney General Blanche went to the meeting location. Screenshot from the video.

According to U.S. media reports, Blanche also repeatedly asked Maxwell about Epstein's connections with dozens of other prominent people, including former President Clinton, but Maxwell provided no incriminating evidence against them.

Maxwell claimed that it was she, not Epstein, who had a close relationship with Clinton. She said she had never seen Clinton receiving massage services from women associated with Epstein, nor had she seen him visit any of Epstein's properties.

In Maxwell's view, Clinton was "not interested" in Epstein, saying, "For him, Epstein was just a rich man with a private jet."

In the interview, Blanche asked whether Epstein had kept a list of celebrities he knew, known as a "client list." Maxwell denied it, saying, "There was no such list... there was no such thing."

When Blanche asked again, she still denied the existence of such a list and added, "I don't know of any blackmail. I've never heard of it, never seen it, and never thought it existed."

When asked if she knew whether Epstein might have had ties with foreign intelligence agencies, such as Israel's Mossad, Maxwell said she knew nothing about it.

"But even if there were, I wouldn't know," she added, "I mean, if he really had such connections, I would be very surprised."

Regarding a long list of other men proposed by Blanche, Maxwell insisted that she had never seen Epstein take photos or videos of others for blackmail, nor had she heard anyone accuse Epstein of blackmail while she was present.

She said, "I just want to make one thing clear: if anyone had ever reported any illegal or disgusting behavior, I would have taken immediate action. I've never heard of it. I've never seen it. And no one has ever complained to me about it."

Epstein died in prison in 2019, officially ruled a suicide. However, Maxwell expressed doubt about the official conclusion of suicide. She believed that Epstein was murdered by another prisoner due to internal prison disputes.

Some speculated that Epstein was silenced by powerful figures worried about his crimes being exposed, but Maxwell called such claims "absurd."

"If those people really wanted to shut him up, they had plenty of opportunities before he was imprisoned," she said, "and if they were worried he might blackmail or leak something, he would have already become an easy target."

A photo of Epstein and Maxwell taken in 2005

Fox News reported that Blanche clearly stated during the inquiry that this conversation was merely a normal talk and not a so-called "cooperation agreement" where the government promised to seek a reduced sentence for Maxwell. The interview agreement provided her with limited immunity, but she could still be prosecuted for perjury if she lied during the process.

However, Maxwell's lawyer David Oscar Markus firmly maintained that his client was innocent and should never have been tried or convicted. He claimed that Maxwell "had never committed or participated in any sexual abuse of minors or anyone else."

Markus said that Maxwell "truthfully" answered all the questions, and "the newly released materials from the Department of Justice clearly show this."

About a week after the Department of Justice interrogation, Maxwell was transferred to a low-security female prison in Bryan, Texas. Most of the prisoners in this prison serve sentences for non-violent or white-collar crimes.

Some former prison officials criticized this as a special treatment, as the rules usually require sex offenders to be housed in at least a low-security prison, unless exempted.

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Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7541655462773522994/

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