I wrote about Day One of the Maxwell trial for my @SubstackInc newsletter. For that report, see my new column at “Vicky Ward Investigates.” 

For Day 2, here are some thoughts about what happened in the courtroom this morning. #GhislaineMaxwellTrial

vickyward.substack.com/p/notes-from-t…
So far, testimony given by Epstein pilot Larry Visoski seems much more beneficial to Maxwell’s defense than to the prosecution.
Visoski told jurors that in the thirty years he flew Epstein’s planes, he never once saw an underage woman who was not accompanied by a parent and he never once saw anybody having sex or any evidence of sex.
Visoski says that Accuser 1—pseudonym “Jane,” who prosecutors allege was only 14 when recruited by Epstein and Maxwell—looked to him like she was 20. He said she looked to him like “a mature woman.”
The defense also again brought up Virginia Roberts Giuffre. Pilot Larry Visoski said he remembered a “Virginia” being on Epstein’s plane, but that she did not appear underage to him.
Maxwell’s defense have made sure to mention the powerful men who flew on Epstein’s planes. They’ve asked Epstein pilot Larry Visoski about Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Bill Richardson, John Glenn, and Itzhak Perlman.
The only man they asked about who Visoski couldn’t remember was Bobby Kennedy, Jr.
Visoski claims that if Epstein and Maxwell were involved, it wasn’t clear what the nature of their relationship was. He told jurors that from the time he first met Maxwell in 1991 thru 2004, when she was clearly with a new boyfriend Ted Waitt, she lived separately from Epstein.
It seems to me that the defense is using Visoski to belabor a point that was made in the opening argument yesterday—that Maxwell “worked very hard.” In other words, they say she wasn’t a “socialite.”
Visoski’s testimony puts a distance between Maxwell and Epstein physically. He claims he wasn’t sure they were a romantic couple. He says he never saw them kiss or touch.
Visoski says that Maxwell’s role was to take care of every thing in Epstein’s life that wasn’t business—his properties, decorations, construction—at a time when his business was expanding. Maxwell was in charge of decorating even the planes.
The name Sarah Kellen keeps popping up. There is lots of talk about her being some sort of successor to Maxwell in Epstein’s office.
Visoski’s testimony thus far seems to so much favor the defense that it’s puzzling why the prosecutors called him as their first witness.
Lawyer Lisa Bloom told me she believes that what Visoski is saying now will fade into the background once the additional government witnesses take the stand.
I'll be back with more from this afternoon's session.

In the meanwhile, here's my dispatch from Day One of the #GhislaineMaxwellTrial: vickyward.substack.com/p/notes-from-t…

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More from @VickyPJWard

3 Dec
"Day Four: What the Butler Saw"

My latest dispatch from inside the #GhislaineMaxwellTrial: vickyward.substack.com/p/day-four-wha…
Longtime Epstein housekeeper Juan Alessi put Maxwell much closer to Epstein’s Palm Beach bedroom—literally—than anyone else in the witness box has so far.
Alessi’s testimony was most damning for Maxwell in that he clearly said he’d seen two females he thought were under-age: “Jane” and Virginia Roberts. He said both had frequently visited Maxwell and Epstein in Palm Beach and accompanied them on trips on Epstein’s private plane.
Read 15 tweets
2 Dec
Here’s the latest — my new dispatch from Day Three of the #GhislaineMaxwellTrial. vickyward.substack.com/p/maxwell-day-…
In the past two years while I’ve been researching “Chasing Ghislaine,” sources close to Maxwell’s defense team have told me consistently that they are unbothered by the fact that the Southern District of New York’s conviction rate is extraordinarily high—reportedly over 95%.
“I don’t care what the statistics are,” someone close to Maxwell and her lawyers told me nine months ago. “Ghislaine is innocent, and we will prove that.”

At the time, I thought this person was crazy. Now, however, I’m beginning to see why the defense appears so confident.
Read 6 tweets
29 Nov
I am thrilled to be announcing today the launch of an exciting new venture: my @SubstackInc newsletter entitled “Vicky Ward Investigates.” I hope you will join me by signing up.
vickyward.substack.com/p/welcome-to-v…
I’ve long been searching for an outlet with the editorial freedom @SubstackInc offers, and I am so excited about the access, immediacy, and transparency that Substack affords writers.
You can expect breaking news as I share from-the-ground items from my reporting. You’ll hear new stories about boldface names you think you know. From NYC real estate to Silicon Valley to the Beltway and beyond, I will provide the inside info that gets you behind the headlines.
Read 5 tweets
22 Nov
Whatever you think you may know of Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell is the key to a story that is deeper and darker than you can imagine.

My new docuseries “Chasing Ghislaine” (executive produced by @JP_Books) premieres on @discoveryplus today: links.discoveryplus.com/WZh8WLwp3kb
"Chasing Ghislaine" includes interviews I did with thirty former friends and employees of Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein, as well as journalists and biographers, in order to tease apart the dense web of secrets and lies Jeffrey Epstein had spun.
The series contains re-enactments of the 450 pages of transcripts of my deeply unpleasant conversations with Epstein that occurred almost daily over several months in 2002.
Read 7 tweets
16 Nov
People sometimes forget that Steve Bannon has a background in Hollywood. But that informs everything he does. Bannon is now producing, writing, directing, and starring in his own movie, and we are going to see scenes right out of the Roger Stone playbook.
What we are watching is the self-canonization of Steve Bannon for the MAGA crowd. There’s not going to be a court appearance or a moment in public where Bannon will miss an opportunity to deliver rhetoric rallying the war cry to the millions of people who follow him.
From my reporting and the times I’ve spoken with him, I know full well that perception is reality in Bannon's world. Bannon is basically resurrecting himself even if he goes to jail—especially if he goes to jail—as the leader of the populist right.
Read 4 tweets
15 Nov
This morning in court, Ghislaine Maxwell looked anything but unhealthy. She was glowing and relaxed. I was prepared for a shock, but the shock I got was different from the one I’d expected.
Maxwell wasn’t wearing prison garb or handcuffs, but instead a black turtleneck sweater and gray pants. Her hair was completely black and shoulder-length—the same style she wore when her father Robert Maxwell died thirty years ago.
Maxwell smiled when she walked into the courtroom. She chatted amiably with her attorneys. At one point, one of her attorneys, Jeffrey Pagliuca, reached out and brushed her bangs off her forehead. Bobbi Sternheim, another of her lawyers, rubbed her shoulder.
Read 6 tweets

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