Deputy Legal professional Normal Todd Blanche mentioned Tuesday that it is an “inconceivable query” whether or not Ghislaine Maxwell — who was convicted of trafficking scores of younger women to Jeffrey Epstein for sexual abuse — is a “credible” witness in her denials of involvement in Epstein’s crimes.
“It is an inconceivable query to reply,” Blanche mentioned in his first on-record statements relating to his two-day July sit-down with Maxwell, after the Justice Division launched transcripts from their assembly final month.
“I met together with her for 2 days. To find out whether or not a witness is credible takes weeks and weeks and weeks,” Blanche mentioned on CNN Tuesday night time.
Todd Blanche, US deputy legal professional common, speaks throughout a press convention within the James S. Brady Briefing Room on the White Home, on June 27, 2025, in Washington D.C.
Mehmet Eser/Center East Photographs/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
Blanche mentioned throughout his interview that “it is actually as much as the American folks to find out what they imagine that her solutions had been credible or whether or not they discovered her not credible.”
Maxwell was indicted in July 2020, throughout the first Trump administration. Her trial occurred in late 2021, whereas former President Joe Biden was within the White Home.
Ghislaine Maxwell attends the 4th Annual WIE Symposium, Sept. 20, 2013 in New York Metropolis.
Laura Cavanaugh/Getty Photographs
Federal prosecutors had beforehand charged Maxwell with perjury for alleged lies she instructed throughout a 2016 civil deposition wherein they mentioned she lied about by no means recruiting anybody underage to therapeutic massage Epstein and by no means witnessing or taking part in any legal acts, denials she largely repeated in her interview with Blanche.
The perjury counts towards her had been ultimately dropped after her conviction on the extra critical fees.
“I requested her questions that — that I imagine all of us wished answered and she or he answered them,” Blanche mentioned. “She answered them. I did not — the purpose of the interview was not for me to strain check each single reply she gave, in fact not. The purpose of the interview was to permit her to talk, which no one had performed earlier than.”
The federal government had beforehand argued Maxwell needs to be afforded no credibility throughout her legal case, citing her “willingness to lie openly underneath oath about her conduct,” in line with court docket information. Maxwell is presently serving a 20-year prison sentence in connection together with her conviction.
Blanche appeared to sympathize with Maxwell, saying she “had been in jail for a lot of, a few years, and she or he had provided to talk on many, many events. And he or she was by no means given that chance.”
“What I did is I gave her that chance to talk,” Blanche mentioned. “It was recorded. My questions had been there and whether or not — whether or not her solutions had been credible or truthful, there’s loads of info on the market about — about Mr. Epstein, about her and whether or not what she mentioned is totally unsuitable or fully proper or a bit of of each, is for that is the rationale why — why we launched the transcript.”
Blanche then added, “It is actually as much as the American folks to find out what they imagine that her solutions had been credible or whether or not they discovered her not credible.”
