Jeffrey Epstein may have been set up on a date with the late Princess Diana, according to Epstein’s imprisoned former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.
Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted of luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein and seeking a pardon from Trump, made the claim while being interviewed by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche last month. The Department of Justice (DOJ) released transcripts and audio recordings of the interviews on Friday.
Newsweek has contacted Maxwell’s attorney for comment via an email sent outside regular business hours.
Why It Matters
The Trump administration released transcripts from the interviews as it grapples with anger from Trump’s base, which had been primed by Trump officials like Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel to expect damaging revelations about prominent figures allegedly connected to Epstein.
But the DOJ reversed course in July, saying in a two-page memo that Epstein had killed himself despite conspiracy theories to the contrary, that a “client list” that Bondi had intimated was on her desk did not actually exist, and that no additional records from the investigation would be made public.
The decision outraged many of Trump’s supporters and conspiracy theorists who believe the files will reveal a cover-up in the case to protect Epstein’s wealthy and powerful friends. Epstein, a convicted sex offender, was found dead in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in what authorities have ruled a suicide.
What To Know
Maxwell told Blanche on the first day she was interviewed that before she met Epstein, he had lived in London and “met and knew some truly fancy people” including Diana’s best friend.
“Her name was Rosa Monckton. And Rosa’s husband, Dominic Lawson, who’s a famous journalist,” she said, according to the transcript. Diana counted Monckton, now a baroness, among her closest friends and was godmother to one of her daughters.
Maxwell said that after she met Epstein, he once attended “a big event” in London without her.
“I don’t know if he sat with Diana or he met with Diana and he’d already met her. I don’t know, but this, I believe was organized by Rosa,” she said.
“I don’t know if she was being set up as a date for him, maybe because she—I don’t want to speak bad of Diana, but—I’m not going to do that.”
Newsweek has contacted Monkton for comment via email.
Maxwell’s timeline is not clear. She talks about the date of the possible meeting between Epstein and Diana while talking about events she believes happened in the early 2000s. Diana died in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997.
What People Are Saying
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote on X on Friday: “In the interest of transparency, @TheJusticeDept is releasing the complete transcript and audio of my proffer of Ms. Maxwell.”
He added: “The audio is divided into segments to reflect breaks during the interview. Some segments are shorter than others. Shorter segments are the result of audio tests and size limitations per recorded session. Except for the names of victims, every word is included. Nothing removed. Nothing hidden.”
Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, wrote on X: “Ghislaine Maxwell is a convicted sex trafficker and known liar. Her interview with Trump’s DOJ lawyer shows she’s desperate for a pardon. She claims no involvement in wrongdoing, which is insulting to the girls and young women she victimized and trafficked. She cannot be trusted.”
Trump told reporters on Friday that he had directed Bondi to give “everything” the DOJ has on Epstein to the committee.
He said: “I’m in support of keeping it totally open. I couldn’t care less.”
What’s Next
The Justice Department on Friday began sending to the House Oversight Committee records from the investigation that the panel says it intends to make public after removing victim’s information.
Maxwell is appealing her conviction before the Supreme Court, and the justices are expected to decide whether to take up the appeal in late September.
Read the full transcripts and hear the audio recordings of Maxwell’s interviews here.
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