Ghislaine Maxwell says she doesn’t believe Epstein died by suicide in interview released by Trump DOJ: Live

The transcripts released by the US Department of Justice on Friday are from a two-day-long sit down between convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell and US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

Maxwell was granted the interview as the Trump administration’s bid to come across as transparent amid backlash among even some of Trump’s most loyal supporters over a perceived broken promise to release more information on Epstein’s case.

The administration were forced into action after last month, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Epstein did not leave behind a “client list” – despite earlier suggesting it was on her desk, and said no other evidence would be released.

In this latest interview, Ghislaine Maxwell is far from the first to raise doubts about the official conclusion of Epstein’s death as a suicide.

One of the disgraced financier’s lawyers, Reid Weingarten, said he had met with Epstein shortly before he died and remarked: “We did not see a despairing, despondent, suicidal person”.

Donald Trump also chipped in, retweeting a conspiracy theory tying the death to Bill Clinton.

But former US attorney general Bill Barr said he had personally reviewed footage of the death and confirmed nobody else was present.

One of the top lines to take away from the transcripts is Maxwell’s belief Epstein did not die by suicide.

She told Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche she did not think he took his own life – but that she also had “no reason to believe” he had been killed by someone who wanted to silence him.

There are a number of key takeaways from the transcript released by the DOJ on Friday, during which Ghislaine Maxwell denied the existence of a “client list” of Epstein’s.

The Independent’s Meg Kinnard has picked out the most important points, including what Maxwell said about Trump, Prince Andrew, and Epstein.

You can read her full piece here.

Ghislaine Maxwell would “welcome any relief” that could come, her lawyer has previously said.

A pardon or a commutation, which could be issued by President Donald Trump, is her only likely hope for getting out of prison early.

In July, Trump said he “had not thought about” pardoning Maxwell, but The White House has been adamant that “no leniency is being given or discussed” in her case.

In the transcripts, Ghislaine Maxwell recalled knowing about Trump and possibly meeting him for the first time in 1990, when her newspaper magnate father, Robert Maxwell, was the owner of the New York Daily News.

“I may have met Donald Trump at that time, because my father was friendly with him and liked him very much,” Maxwell said, according to the transcript.

She added her father was fond of Trump’s then-wife, Ivana, “because she was also from Czechoslovakia, where my dad was from.”

Ghislaine Maxwell also took the opportunity to slam theories Epstein was murdered while in prison as “ludicrous”.

She told the US Department of Justice she did not believe he had died by suicide, but added she “did not have any reason” to believe he had been killed by anyone wanting to silence him.

“I also happen to think if that is what they wanted, they would’ve had plenty of opportunity when he wasn’t in jail,” she said.

“And if they were worried about blackmail or anything from him, he would’ve been a very easy target.”

Ghislaine Maxwell has repeated her claim that a photograph showing Prince Andrew with Virginia Giuffre is “fake”.

In an interview with the US Department of Justice, conducted last month, Maxwell said: “I believe it’s literally a fake photo.”

The imprisoned former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein also dismissed as “rubbish” Giuffre’s claim that she was paid to have a relationship with Prince Andrew and that he had sex with her at Maxwell’s London home.

Read our full story below.

Four years after her conviction and sentencing on charges of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and other crimes, how credible is her testimony?

President Donald Trump might have thought he had some distance from the Jeffrey Epstein headlines that were dragging down his poll numbers and made his base turn on him. But, over the last few weeks, the president has seen positive economic news, taken over the streets of Washington D.C. from local police and watched as his FBI raided the home of former adviser John Bolton.