DOJ-OGR-00022690.tif

ABAD OBFWNF OHM WAT HANO B WN EP Page 134 an exact date, but when, approximately, was that? GHISLAINE MAXWELL: Well, we can date it from that picture, if you find me the picture. TODD BLANCHE: But do you know, I -- without looking at a photo, in your mind, approximately, when was that. GHISLAINE MAXWELL: I want to say it was the 2000 -- no, probably 2001, 2002. TODD BLANCHE: Early 2000s? GHISLAINE MAXWELL: Yes. TODD BLANCHE: And I think it was actually Prince Andrew himself who suggested that he met Jeffrey Epstein through you. GHISLAINE MAXWELL: I think that's true. So -- well -- LEAH SAFFIAN: It's true that Andrew said that. GHISLAINE MAXWELL: Yeah, no, I'm sure it's true, because I -- I'm English and my close friends are all close friends with Sarah and Andrew. And I would not say that I was close friends with Andrew before, but certainly we were friendly and certainly his best friends, some of them, are very close with me. And I think that my friendship, my -- me Page 135 being present or me 1s what made Andrew like Jeffrey more, like, trust him or I think that's the idea. TODD BLANCHE: So you don't dispute that you're -- that you kind of had a role in them getting together. You're just saying you didn't say, Prince, here's Jeffrey. GHISLAINE MAXWELL: I would never have introduced them. It would never have occurred to me to introduce them. I couldn't imagine them being friends. Two chalk and cheeses would never -- I mean, for real, there's nothing there to connect them. So he met Prince Andrew and then he had a really good relationship. I don't like that word. It sounds clunky. They had a friend -- DAVID MARKUS: Acquaintanceship. GHISLAINE MAXWELL: Thank you. And -- through Sarah, actually. I think Sarah is the one that pushed that. And they met and hung out, I want to say two or three times that had nothing to do with me. I wasn't communicating with Andrew, I wasn't in touch with him. And I know this because I was annoyed and I felt left out, and I felt disrespected and I was like, this is weird. I couldn't even imagine Epstein oOo menAIANA OB WN EE oO TN OA PWN EE PRPRPRPPRRPRP RB OTN BWNHE Ow Page 136 and Andrew together. And I thought that Sarah was trying to put the moves on Jeffrey, if I'm being honest, and I thought the whole thing was annoying and I was pissed off. TODD BLANCHE: So what happened with their relationship? Putting aside the publicity around Prince Andrew's purported relationship with eis what happened, as far as you know, with Prince Andrew and Mr. Epstein's relationship, from the times you just described or you give me -- GHISLAINE MAXWELL: Okay. So after that, at some point Jeffrey told me -- Epstein told me that Andrew was coming to New York and I needed to organize the whole thing. That's classic by the way, classic Epstein. Of course, if someone -- I'm like, all right, fine, whatever. And because he wanted to make sure that Andrew was taken care of and that he was comfortable, he had whatever he needed, yada, yada, yada. And I'm like, well, am I going to meet him or are you just going to have me do all the job? And he said, well, you know, you can come and say hello. Like, wow. Well, that's so nice of you, for real. Because you have to understand, like, I Page 137 don't know if I told you this before, but I did not have the keys to his -- I was not allowed to go to his house, unless I was summoned or told. I was not allowed to answer his phones. We can go there, but anyway. So this -- you can tell there's a bit of a sore point, perhaps. Anyway, so Andrew came, and of course the minute we got together I was like, yay. Hi. And then it was so nice, because the difference of being in England with Prince Andrew versus being in New York without all the bullshit was insane. And our friendship just like lit up like this, because first of all, he knew that I'm safe. I mean safe as in I'm not, yeah, you know, Nigel Dempster or taking a picture. I mean, not in a million years would I do something so gross. And we honestly got on like a house on fire. I really liked him a lot and he's -- it was so nice and we just became really, really good friends, much more so than when we were in London, if I'm honest. TODD BLANCHE: And then with respect to eid and Prince Andrew, what do you know about that relationship? GHISLAINE MAXWELL: Would you like to ask MAGNA® 35 (Pages 134 to 137) LEGAL SERVICES DOJ-OGR- 00022690