While the interview didn’t shed much light, in one way it’s likely to fuel more questions.
On one key point, Maxwell aligned at least in part with those who have lodged conspiracy theories about Epstein, who died by suicide.
"I do not believe he died by suicide, no," Maxwell said.
Maxwell was asked to speculate on who might have killed Epstein, and she said she didn’t know.
Maxwell did break from many of the theories about Epstein’s death, in that she said she didn’t believe he was killed because he was blackmailing people. Instead, she suggested it could have been an attack unrelated to that.
"In prison, where I am, they will kill you or they will pay – somebody can pay a prisoner to kill you for $25 worth of commissary," Maxwell said. "That’s about the going rate for a hit with a lock today."
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Blanche seemed to take care to emphasize that distinction, repeatedly returning to it.
The administration has said that Epstein did die by suicide, but the information it has offered – including a jailhouse video – has led to questions about how definitive its proof is.
Maxwell has obvious credibility problems and wouldn’t necessarily have any unique insight into how Epstein died. (She said she never called or visited him in jail.) But a recent poll showed Americans said 60%-12% that the government was "hiding information" about Epstein’s death.
And now Epstein’s top accomplice apparently told the government it’s wrong, for whatever that’s worth.
She made a point to flatter Trump
One of the big questions in the runup to the interview was whether Maxwell was using it to try and win concessions from the Trump administration – and was tailoring her testimony accordingly.
Her lawyer, David Markus, spent the weeks prior often saying nice things about Trump and even suggesting a possible pardon or legal intervention in her ongoing appeals.
Maxwell was also recently moved to a lower-security prison camp that she, as a sex offender, doesn’t appear eligible for without a waiver. The administration still hasn’t explained how that happened, weeks later.
And Maxwell’s testimony doesn’t exactly refute that she wants something from Trump.
At one point, she took a brief diversion to offer unsolicited praised of his political success.
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"I just want to say that I find – I – I admire his extraordinary achievement in becoming the president now," Maxwell said. "And I like him, and I’ve always liked him."
Trump has also said nice things about Maxwell, including bizarrely wishing her well – repeatedly – after she was charged in 2020. He also repeatedly left open the possibility of pardoning her around the time she interviewed with Blanche, who is Trump’s former personal attorney.
Blanche told Maxwell she had limited immunity for the interview, but he also said, "I’m not promising to do anything" for her.
Names were named, and Maxwell rebuts Trump
When the Justice Department said last month that it wouldn’t release more information, it cited a desire not to impugn people who haven’t been charged with crimes. Trump himself has repeatedly cited a desire to avoid doing that, including as recently as Friday afternoon.
But notably, the administration now appears to have relaxed that standard.
The transcripts redact only the names of victims and leave in the names of well-known people broached by Maxwell and Blanche.
That includes not only Trump and former President Bill Clinton, but also Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Harvey Weinstein, a former congressman and plenty of others. Maxwell mentioned some men getting massages but didn’t implicate anyone in wrongdoing.
She explicitly said she had never observed Trump getting a massage. Of Clinton, she said: "I don’t believe he did." Of Kennedy, she said, "I never saw anything inappropriate with Mr. Kennedy."
