Maxwell Trial Transcript - Day 6: Creepy-Looking Animals, Strange Things, and Schoolgirl Uniforms
by Anne P. Mitchell, Esq. - attorney and law professor emeritus - giving you 100% facts and truth in plain English about what’s going on with this administration and the law
(This is part of our ongoing series for Notes from the Front members covering the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, day by day, including the transcripts for each day.)
Today’s transcript starts, as usual, with the judge and lawyers conferring before the jury is brought in and witness testimony starts. Today they are discussing the testimony of the witness “Kate” (a pseudonym). The defense has argued that because Kate was herself *not* underage when her abuse at the hands of Epstein occurred, her testimony should be excluded, as the charges in the case are in part about the Mann Act and what Maxwell was doing and facilitating with *underage* girls. The judge, however, says that Kate’s testimony is still relevant as “she has relevant testimony that is direct evidence of the Mann Act counts and evidence that is otherwise admissible.”
As I have said before, we lawyers have advanced degrees in hair splitting.
More housekeeping and administrative things are discussed, including whether to allow in photos and/or testimony about items found in Epstein’s residence including stuffed animals (no), and “creepy-looking animals and animal heads and strange things” (no), and schoolgirl uniforms (yes).
That done, Kate takes the stand. She describes living in England as a teenager, and her boyfriend taking her to Paris which is where she met Maxwell. Kate was 17 at the time, her boyfriend was 35. My immediate thought was that her boyfriend was a co-conspirator, intentionally introducing her to Maxwell, however that is never brought up.
Maxwell wants to introduce Kate to her boyfriend, Jeffrey Epstein, telling Kate that “he liked to help young people, and that, at some point, it would be really wonderful for me to get to meet him and that we shared so many things in common and that - yeah, just that it would be great for me to get to meet him at some point.” and “Oh, she said that he was going to love me and that I was exactly the kind of person he would like to help. She seemed very genuinely excited about it, and I was excited, too.”
Kate goes into a lot of detail, including meeting Epstein, being contacted to give him a massage “as a favor” and, of course, that first massage turning sexual.
And then, this (forgive me, I am quoting):
“Q. What, if any, sexual topics did Maxwell bring up?
A. She would talk a lot about the nature of -- she would say boys, and boys and their willies, which was a euphemism for penis. How demanding Jeffrey was. And she would ask me if I knew anybody who could come and give Jeffrey a blow job because it was - it was a lot for her to do.”
And Maxwell said that Epstein needed to have sex 3 times a day.
And, speaking of those schoolgirl outfits:
“Q. Did there come a time that you were given clothing to wear when you were staying at Epstein’s Palm Beach house?
A. Yes.
Q. What were you given to wear?
A. I was given a schoolgirl outfit.
Q. Can you please describe the schoolgirl outfit for the jury.
A. It was a short -- a short pleated skirt, white socks, white panties, and a shirt.”
---
After the direct of Kate, of course comes the cross-examination. This will probably make your blood boil. Maxwell’s attorney asks questions so as to insinuate all sorts of things, including saying that when Kate wasn’t thinking about her relentless ambition, she was thinking about her Great Dane (maybe that wasn’t an insinuation, maybe that’s just my cynical mind).
The lawyer also snidely calls the victims “a sisterhood of accusers against Jeffrey Epstein.”
You’ll also notice a common defense tactic: switching topics in almost mid-sentence; this is to try to throw the witness off, trip them up.
After the defense is done with Kate they bring on Patrick McHugh, an employee with JP Morgan. The prosecution has McHugh walk through several transactions in which Epstein transfers a great deal of money to Maxwell, and Maxwell gets a helicopter. The defense makes a big deal out of the fact that one of the accountants, Harry Beller, signs off on many of the transactions from Maxwell's account.
Then it’s the defense’s turn, and boy is he getting objection-slapped. You’ll see a lot of “Objection. Sustained.”s in here. And Mr. McHugh, well, clearly this is not his first rodeo.
Next they call FBI Agent Kelly Maguire to the stand. Agent Maguire was the search team leader during the search of Epstein’s *40-room* Manhattan townhouse, and is describing the apartment. The townhouse had *8* floors and several staircases.
And THIS is the testimony that describes everything that the FBI found in Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse. The cash, the diamonds, the passports, and external hard drives, and lots and lots of binders of CDs. And Maguire acknowledges looking at what was on some of the CDs, but does not say what was on them.
Then they wrap up the day by calling Kimberly Meder, who also works for the FBI, to the stand. Kimberly has reviewed *all* of the photos on the CDs. She still doesn’t say what they are, however, although now the Court adjourns for the night, so perhaps she’ll say more tomorrow.
That said, after court is adjourned the attorneys and judge do some more housekeeping, the defense arguing that certain images should not be admitted as they aren’t authenticated, or relevant, or both - and the Judge responds with a series of “Overruled”s.
Because, you see, as you can infer from the dialogue, they are images of Maxwell and Epstein together, and the prosecution is trying to prove a conspiracy between Maxwell and Epstein.
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P.S. If you actually read all the way to the bottom please leave a sentence in a comment that includes the words “strange things”. It will show me that my efforts aren’t in vain and that people actually *do* read these things, and it will drive those who just skim crazy wondering just why everyone is talking about strange things! ;~)