The White House released transcripts of their interview with Ghislaine Maxwell. I don’t know why. Virtually no one will believe anything she has to say. And that’s even more assured now that we can see what she actually said.
Naturally, Maxwell said she never saw Donald Trump be anything less than a gentleman. He never touched an underage girl or got a “massage.” Etc.
This could all be true but since she was talking to Trump defense lawyer/top DOJ official Todd Blanche and her only way out of prison is a pardon, she had every incentive to say things that would please the president. In other words, no one cares and no one is convinced.
She could have bolstered her credibility a bit if she’s been willing to spill dirt on anyone, but that wasn’t the case. She insists that the infamous photograph of her posing with Prince Andrew and an underage Virginia Giuffre is a fake. Not even the Royal Family is trying to sell that lame line of defense.
This is from 2022:
The Duke of York’s military titles and royal patronages have been returned to the Queen, Buckingham Palace has said.
Prince Andrew, 61, will also stop using the style His Royal Highness in an official capacity, a royal source said.
It comes as he faces a US civil action over sexual assault allegations – claims he has consistently denied.
A source close to the duke said he would “continue to defend himself” against the case brought in New York by Virginia Giuffre.
Giuffre committed suicide earlier this year, still tormented by a childhood of sexual abuse. Maxwell says Prince Andrew could not have abused Giuffre in her bathroom because it was too small.
Maxwell also defends Bill Clinton, suggesting that he was friends with her but not really with Jeffrey Epstein. She says Clinton never went to Epstein’s Caribbean Island, which is probably true but not what the right wants to hear.
Nowhere is her credibility more damaged than through her unwillingness to take personal responsibility for her partnership in monstrous sexual crimes committed against minors.
Maxwell insisted she was unaware of any sexual contact between Epstein and minors or any other type of “non-consensual” sexual activity. But she said she now recognizes some of those things may have happened outside her presence.
“I’m not saying that Mr. Epstein did not do those things,” she said. “I don’t feel comfortable saying that today, given what I now know to be true. So I am not here to defend him. But what I can say is that I did not participate in that activity.”
But she absolutely did participate in those activities, including some of the sexual assaults. Just based on this part of the interview, we can dismiss anything else she had to say as inherently untrustworthy.
The one opinion she offered that held some interest was her belief that Epstein was murdered in prison. But even here her answer is unsatisfying, as she guesses that Epstein was killed by another inmate, possibly for money, but not as a conspiracy to silence him. While it’s possible Epstein was hanged by another inmate, the only way that inmate could have gained access to Epstein’s cell is through a larger conspiracy involving the staff of the prison. And the staff of the prison had huge incentives to keep Epstein alive. If Epstein was murdered, it would have to have been part of big conspiracy that was then covered up as well as possible.
My point here isn’t simply that Maxwell is not believable. My point is that she’s not believable even to partisans and the straight-up gullible. Just speaking for myself, as a partisan Democrat, her defense of Bill Clinton doesn’t reassure me. I’ve never suspected Clinton of partaking in Epstein’s crimes, but when Maxwell defends him it makes me suspicious because she’s lying about other things, and I know she’s lying about them. If I’m innocent, I don’t want Maxwell to claim I’m innocent, if you understand why I’m saying.
The same dynamic is playing out with partisan Republicans. She cleared Trump of wrongdoing, but that isn’t going to help him with the MAGA crowd. It’s going to raise their level of doubt.
To be effective, Maxwell needed to confirm at least some of people’s suspicions and provide some new information to satisfy the curious. Instead, she proclaimed her own innocence, which is just ludicrous.
So, again, I don’t know why the White House released the transcript of this interview since it just makes matters worse for them.
