DOJ Transcripts Reveal Ghislaine Maxwell’s Denials on Epstein’s Alleged Client List and High-Profile Ties

The Department of Justice dropped a significant set of documents on Friday, making public the full transcripts and audio recordings from two days of interviews with Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted associate of Jeffrey Epstein.

These sessions, held in July 2025 at a federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida, were led by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and come amid ongoing scrutiny of Epstein’s network and his 2019 death in custody. Maxwell, serving a 20-year sentence for her role in Epstein’s sex trafficking operation, spoke under limited immunity, provided she told the truth.

During the interviews, Maxwell repeatedly dismissed the notion of a secret “client list” tied to Epstein’s crimes—a rumor that has fueled years of speculation.

“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,” she stated on the first day.

She elaborated at length, pointing to a 2009 incident involving a former Epstein employee, Alfredo Rodriguez, and attorney Brad Edwards. According to Maxwell, Rodriguez had a journal that was misrepresented as a comprehensive list of clients, victims, and accomplices.

“No, there is nothing like that,” she added when pressed further. Reiterating her point, she said, “Right. I just want to reiterate again, there is no list that I am aware of. I’ve never, at any time, at least during the period of time when I was — present.”

On the second day, Maxwell doubled down: “No, there’s no list. There’s no list of people getting massages. I don’t have — I can barely recall all the people. I can barely recall. I struggle to recall actual people that I met. And I may have met a long time that I had even forgotten that — about Mr. Kennedy, or I probably brought it up yesterday. It just came to my mind now. So I don’t have, and there’s no list. There was never a list. There was no — or certainly none that I ever saw. None I ever heard of, none that I ever witnessed, none that I — there’s no list. Has never been a list.”

She also addressed Epstein’s financial clients, naming figures like Les Wexner, Leon Black, Elizabeth Johnson of Johnson & Johnson, and former Barclays CEO Jes Staley, describing Epstein’s services as comprehensive financial management rather than anything illicit.

Maxwell’s comments extended to Epstein’s connections with prominent political figures, offering insights that align with longstanding questions about influence and impropriety. Regarding President Donald Trump, whom Epstein knew socially in the 1990s and early 2000s, Maxwell was unequivocal in her defense. She stated she “never witnessed the President in any inappropriate setting in any way” and described their interactions as “friendly like people are in social settings.”

Broadening her assertion, she added, “never, ever saw any man doing something inappropriate with a woman of any age.

This comes as no surprise to those familiar with Trump’s public stance distancing himself from Epstein after the financier’s scandals emerged, though the two were photographed together at events like Mar-a-Lago gatherings in the past.

When it came to former President Bill Clinton, whose multiple flights on Epstein’s private jet have been well-documented in released logs, Maxwell downplayed any close ties. “I saw them talk. I saw them sit down and have chats about, I don’t know, because I wasn’t either a party or didn’t listen and I know — I would characterize, originally anyway, Mr. Epstein’s interest in him because obviously he’s the former president. But I never saw him — other than that, I saw them be friendly on the plane, but I never — I don’t believe — I don’t recollect, anyway, ever seeing them in any other context. I don’t remember him at his house in New York. Like I said, I don’t believe he ever went to that island. I think that was just a — that was a story that did,” she explained.

Asked if Clinton received massages from Epstein’s victims, Maxwell replied, “I don’t believe so.” She further noted, “Because I don’t think they had a relationship even when I was there. I was — I — President Clinton liked me, and we got along terribly well. But I never saw that warmth or that — that warmth or however you want to characterize it, with Mr. Epstein and cert- — so I didn’t see that. I didn’t see any interest in — I didn’t see President Clinton being interested in Epstein. He was just a rich guy with a plane.”

Despite these denials, Clinton’s 26 documented trips on Epstein’s plane, as revealed in earlier court filings, continue to raise eyebrows among conservatives who question the depth of that association.

Maxwell also touched on other notable names, including former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, whom she recalled meeting briefly, and former Sen. George Mitchell, with whom she traveled to Italy and visited the Vatican. “I traveled with him. We went to — the most memorable affair I went to — well, I was friendly with his wife. Start with that, with Heather. And Heather was in New York, so I hung out with her a few times. We had dinner and I was just friendly, I would say separately with — separately from her husband. I was friends with Heather. I met Heather through her husband, but we became friends,” she said of Mitchell.

For former Colombian President Andrés Pastrana, Maxwell described shared helicopter piloting interests and trips to Colombia and Cuba, where they met Fidel Castro.

One of the more contentious elements of the transcripts is Maxwell’s skepticism about Epstein’s death, officially ruled a suicide while awaiting trial in a Manhattan federal jail. She reiterated her belief that Epstein did not kill himself, echoing doubts voiced by Epstein’s brother and many in conservative circles who have long criticized the handling of his custody and the quick conclusion by authorities. This release follows recent court denials of requests to unseal grand jury materials from both Epstein and Maxwell’s cases, adding to frustrations over transparency in what many see as a web of elite protection.

The DOJ’s memo accompanying the release emphasized that an “exhaustive review” found no such client list or additional incriminating documents. While Maxwell provided no new bombshells implicating others, her statements underscore the persistent mysteries surrounding Epstein’s empire.

This development reinforces the need for full accountability, particularly regarding figures like Clinton whose Epstein links have never been fully explained, while affirming Trump’s distance from any wrongdoing. As Maxwell’s appeal proceeds, these transcripts may fuel further demands for deeper investigations into one of the most infamous scandals in recent history.