US Deputy Justice Secretary Todd Blanche tried to spare President Donald Trump during testimony he conducted in July this year with Ghislaine Maxwell, the former partner of attacker Jeffrey Epstein, who is accused of coordinating a massive sex trafficking scheme. Epstein died in prison in 2019, in a death ruled a suicide, before a verdict for the alleged crimes.
Blanche was on the stand as a prosecutor, not as a defender of Trump or the government. Indeed, in the United States, the Department of Justice traditionally maintains a certain independence from the executive, acting with functions similar to those exercised by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Ministry of Justice in Brazil.
Maxwell’s testimony was conducted as part of an attempt by the Trump administration to demonstrate transparency in the matter in order to appease the Republican base, which was demanding the release of all investigative files.
After months of denial, the pressure was so great that Trump changed his mind and said he would support a disclosure, clearing the way for Congress to pass a law requiring it from the Justice Department. The agency published part of the documents, including Maxwell’s statements, this Friday (19).
The conversations took place over two days at the Florida prison where Maxwell is serving his 20-year sentence for operating a girl sex trafficking scheme with Epstein. She was convicted of grooming girls and women and taking them to Epstein to be raped. The British socialite previously asked Trump for a presidential pardon in a letter.
During the interviews, Blanche asks a series of questions about Epstein’s relationship with former Democratic President Bill Clinton — the two were close and the politician traveled on Epstein’s jets several times.
Maxwell initially said he did not see Clinton having sex with the girls she had hired for Epstein. Blanche then asks: “Why do you say that? “, which causes Maxwell to back down and admit that it’s possible that Clinton could have done it.
When Blanche asks if Trump slept with the girls, Maxwell is adamant: “Never.” Blanche doesn’t pressure her, and the socialite says the president and Epstein only met at “social occasions,” like parties or dinners, and never alone at the attacker’s house, for example. “When I was with (Trump), he was always a gentleman in every way,” Maxwell said.
Trump and Epstein were friends for years in the 1990s, until they split after a dispute over the purchase of property in Florida. In his emails, the attacker insinuates that Trump knew about the sex trafficking scheme.
Maxwell praised the Republican more at other points in the testimony. “President Trump has always been very polite and kind to me. And what’s more, I want to say that I admire his extraordinary achievement in becoming president. I like him, I always have,” he said.
Blanche also asked Maxwell to deny a Wall Street Journal report revealing a drawing of a nude woman allegedly made by Trump as a 50th birthday gift to Epstein. Without quoting the newspaper, Blanche said: “You don’t remember anything to do with President Trump and the book (which collected congratulatory messages from Epstein’s friends), do you? Did you request a letter from President Trump?” Maxwell denies it.
At another point, Maxwell defends Trump. “I think the president was dragged into this unnecessarily. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but I believe there is a bias that may have led people to try to use (the Epstein affair) to harm the president, and I find that very offensive.”
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