The Justice Department on Friday released transcripts of interviews its No. 2 official did with Jeffrey Epstein’s imprisoned former girlfriend as the Trump administration scrambles to present itself as transparent amid a fierce backlash over an earlier refusal to disclose a trove of records from the sex-trafficking case.

G hislaine Maxwell, the convicted associate of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, told US officials that a highly discussed "client list" does not exist, according to a released transcript of her interview.

The release of the transcripts and audio recordings of Maxwell's interview comes amid intense public curiosity about Epstein and as Trump tries to tamp down a political crisis stemming from the Justice Department's decision not to release files from its probe of Epstein.