Turley Says Maxwell Transcript Exonerates Trump and Hits ‘Hard in Washington’

Legal scholar and Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley says that, according to interview transcripts recently released by the Department of Justice, Ghislaine Maxwell exonerates President Donald Trump from any illicit involvement in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation. Moreover, the former Epstein associate states that “there is no list” and that “she never saw a list,” a claim that Turley believes “hits hard” in Washington, D.C.

“There was a true buzzkill feeling in Washington. People, particularly Democrats, are saying that virtually everything the president’s doing is an effort to distract from the Epstein files,” Turley explains.

The Trump administration has faced increased scrutiny since Attorney General Pam Bondi said that the list was on her desk, ready for review, then appeared to backtrack. At the beginning of July, Bondi declared that federal investigations found child pornography files rather than an extensive “Epstein List” of clients who visited the multimillionaire’s private island.

Democrat lawmakers, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., have since worked to amplify the idea that Trump was attempting to delay the release of these documents, accusing the president of being involved in Epstein’s sex trafficking ring. “Wow, who would have thought that electing a rapist would have complicated the release of the Epstein Files?” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X on July 11.

The DOJ released all transcripts of her interview last Friday, in which she states that she never saw Trump act inappropriately, according to Fox. The transcripts are from July 24 and July 25, 2025, when Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche visited Maxwell to discuss her links to Epstein and offer any potential information on individuals allegedly connected to her former business’ partner.

“I actually never saw the president in any type of massage setting. I never witnessed the president in any inappropriate setting in any way. The president was never inappropriate with anybody. In the times that I was with him, he was a gentleman in all respects,” Maxwell stated in the transcript.

“The interviews actually would on their face exonerate, but many people are saying, ‘Look, she has a reason to do that. She wants a commutation. She wants a pardon, and this will help her do that. She was moved to a better prison,’” Turley added.

“There’s another possibility, right? There isn’t anything on the president, and that she’s telling the truth,” Turley said. “What really hit hard in Washington with his critics is they’re saying there is no list, that she never saw a list. And she believes she knows where that rumor started and that it indeed is false.”