Ghislaine Maxwell hinted at Epstein’s ties to Trump officials – why wasn’t she pressed for names?

As deputy US attorney Todd Blanche announced last week that the justice department would release transcripts of his interview with Ghislaine Maxwell, he described this disclosure as being “in the interest of transparency”.

While those supportive of Trump have touted these actions as a show of openness, many others have pointed to the questions left unasked – and the people who have not been asked anything at all – as indicating that these disclosures about Epstein were more of a show than any real push for truth. For them the Maxwell transcripts, and the ignoring of victim’s voices, are not a sign of openness; they are a sign of a reluctance to pursue any potentially dangerous truth.

For example, Blanche asked Maxwell whether people around Epstein – including the numerous high-profile and powerful men who had known him – were associating with him for the purpose of sexual encounters. In her reply Maxwell said that some of the “cast of characters” around Epstein were “in your cabinet, who you value as your co-workers”.

Despite the fact that Maxwell had just openly mentioned Epstein associates as being in Trump’s current cabinet, Blanche – a hardened lawyer not known for missing a trick in trial argument – did not pause to ask Maxwell to identify the cabinet members she was referring to.

At another point in the interview, Blanche asked Maxwell had ever had contact with Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency.

"Well, not deliberately,” Maxwell said. Blanche responded: “Pardon me?” She again said “not deliberately” and Blanche then moved on to a question about whether Epstein was receiving money from any intelligence agency.