EFTA00161231.pdf

FBI PUBLIC AFFAIRS - DIRECTOR'S AM NEWS BRIEFING EFTA00161231 Maxwell Wins Court Ruling To Prevent Release Of 2016 Testimony As Reports Highlight Ties To Trump, Clinton. According to Bloomberg (7/31, Hurtado, 4.73M), "Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite fighting sex- trafficking charges in the U.S., persuaded a federal appeals court in Manhattan to temporarily halt the release of sworn testimony she gave in April 2016 in a civil case." Bloomberg says the court on Friday "granted Maxwell's request to block the unsealing of documents that include her deposition testimony in that lawsuit," but "said it would consider the fight over the unsealing on an expedited basis and scheduled a hearing for Sept 22." In article titled, "Before President Trump Wished Ghislaine Maxwell 'Well,' They Had Mingled For Years In The Same Gilded Circles," the Washington Post (7/31, Helderman, Fisher, 14.2M) reported that "for at least 15 years° after meeting in 1989, President Trump and Maxwell "continued to mingle in the same gilded circles, attending the same parties in Florida and New York, sharing meals and flying together at least once on [Jeffrey] Epstein's private plane." The Post says "during those years, Trump socialized with Epstein, partiailarly after Epstein purchased a mansion in Palm Beach, Fla., in 1990, not far from Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate." The Post says that while Trump said last year that he and Epstein "had had a falling out: he "as not made a similar effort to distance himself from Maxwell, Epstein's longtime companion." The Washington Post (7/31, Helderman, Jacobs, 14.2M) also reported tha 'who has accused...Epstein of years-long abuse that began when she was a teenager, alleged in a newt unsealed deposition that...Maxwell, was both his thief accomplice and a participant in the sexual abuse." According to the Post, "has claimed that Maxwell recruited her to serve EFTA00161234 as a traveling masseuse for Epstein after spotting her working a summer job as a locker room attendant 20 years ago at Mar-a- Lago, President Trump's private estate." According to Bloomberg (7/31, Hurtado, 4.73M), "has recounted how she had a job at 16 handing out towels in a spa locker room at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida before Maxwell lured her to work as a masseuse for Epstein, when he began sexually assaulting her." Bloomberg added, "After that, testified, Maxwell and Epstein began farming her out to powerful men, including directing her to have sex with Britain's Prince Andrew — a claim the prince has strenuously denied." Meanwhile, Stephanie Gosk reported on NBC Nightly News (7/31, story 12, 1:57, Holt, 5.44M), "In a 2011 transcript of a conversation with attorneys, said she saw former President Bill Clinton on the island. According to this document, she told lawyers, 'I remember asking Jeffrey what's Bill Clinton doing here kind of thing. And he laughed it off and said, 'well, he owes me a favor.' He never told me what favors they were.' In a statement today, a Clintorakesperson tells NBC News, 'The story keeps changing. The facts don't. President Clinton has never been to the island. I= has acknowledged to NBC News that she used drugs when she says she was abused by Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his long-time friend who pleaded not guilty to federal cfas earlier this month. But pushes back on Maxwell and others who have questioned her credibility." Gosk added, 'does not allege that Clinton engaged in any illegal sexual activity, nor has any other known Epstein accuser." The AP (7/31) reported that US District Judge Alison J. Nathan "said Friday that her attorneys are not permitted to publicly identify accusers even if they've spoken in a public forum. 'Not all accusations or public statements are equal,' U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan wrote in her ruling in the case facing Ghislaine Maxwell. 'Deciding to participate in or contribute to a criminal investigation or prosecution is a far different matter than simply making a public statement "relating to" Ms. Maxwell or Jeffrey Epstein, particularly since such a statement might have occurred decades ago and have no relevance to the charges in this case.'" Judge Nathan "said the women 'still maintain a significant privacy interest that must be safeguarded.'" The San Jose (CA) Mercury News (7/31, Ross, 456K) reported, "Newly released documents in a lawsuit against Jeffrey Epstein's associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, shed new light on the late accused sex trafficker's friendship with Prince Andrew, including the claim that the British royal worked to help Epstein secure a reduced sentence in a child prostitution case in Florida in 2008." The Mercury News added, "Andrew's reputation has alrl i been tarnished by his long association with Epstein and by allegations that he had sex multiple times with , one of the teenage girls Epstein allegedly pimped out to his powerful friends. Andrew, who was asked to step down from his royal duties last year, has repeatedly denied having sex with but the new documents appear to challenge his assertion that he wasn't good friends with Epstein and only saw him infrequently through the 2000s before he claims he ended their friendship." The Wall Street Journal (7/31, Paul, O'Brien, Subscription Publication, 7.57M) and a brief ABC World News Tonight (7/31, story 14, 0:27, Llamas, 6.66M) broadcast provide similar coverage of the unsealed documents. EFTA00161235