Tonya Mosley

They include private emails, a draft indictment that was never filed, an FBI diagram mapping his network, photographs, and the unredacted names of victims, including minors.

And yet the Justice Department says its review is complete.

No further prosecutions are expected.

My guest today is investigative journalist and author Vicki Ward.

She was one of the first reporters to investigate Jeffrey Epstein's world in 2003 for Vanity Fair.

She later said the most disturbing allegations she uncovered were never published because they were cut by her editor.

In those newly released government files, Ward also found a document of Epstein trying to discredit her, confirming what she's been saying for 23 years.

Our interview was recorded yesterday.

And Vicki Ward, welcome to Fresh Air.

Well, thank you for being here.

And I want to actually start with what happened on Monday.

So Ghislaine Maxwell, as expected, invoked the Fifth Amendment.

But her attorney made, I think, what would be called a striking play.

He said that Maxwell would testify in public if granted clemency by President Trump.

And he went even further, saying that both the president and former President Bill Clinton are, in his words,

innocent of any wrongdoing.

You've actually studied how she thinks, so I would love to know what you make of this, this offer.

And you mentioned Todd Blanche.

He's the deputy attorney general who interviewed Maxwell last summer after which she was moved to a more comfortable prison.

I want to unpack a little bit of what you're saying about the untruths that she gave over the summer because you have been following this for so long.