Opening statements in the highly anticipated trial of Ghislaine Maxwell begin on Monday in a Manhattan federal court. This is what the defense is expected to say, and what we're waiting to find out.

Transcript

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

Opening statements in the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell begin today in a Manhattan federal court. Maxwell is charged with trafficking underage girls for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse. It's alleged that she groomed them and in some cases participated in the abuse. Jeffrey Epstein died in a federal detention center in 2019. It was ruled a suicide. Maxwell has been in jail since 2020. NPR's Jasmine Garsd will be following the case. Jasmine, people are probably pretty familiar with Jeffrey Epstein. Tell us some more about Ghislaine Maxwell.

JASMINE GARSD, BYLINE: Sure. Maxwell is the daughter of the late media mogul Robert Maxwell. In the '90s, she was in a romantic relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. She is charged with multiple counts of trafficking minors for Epstein between the mid-'90s and the early 2000s. She maintains that she is innocent.

MARTINEZ: OK. So what's her defense expected to be?

GARSD: There's a few things. First, they are likely going to argue that there is no way that Maxwell can get a fair trial, that she is, in essence, being tried for Jeffrey Epstein's crimes, a sort of trial by proxy. The other argument is that she's already been found guilty in the court of public opinion. This is a extremely public case. I was at the jury selection a few weeks ago, and this was the question that kept coming up for potential jurors - how much time do you spend on social media? How much do you know about this case? How much do you follow tabloid news?

MARTINEZ: There have been a lot of high-profile names attached to this story, Jasmine. So what do we know about who's going to testify?

GARSD: At least four women who say they were underage and preyed upon by Maxwell will be testifying. What has been raising some eyebrows is that one woman, Virginia Giuffre, will not be participating. She is one of the most famous accusers who says when she was 17, Epstein and Maxwell started flying her around the world for sex with very high-profile politicians, royals, billionaires. And she's the one who has named names like Britain's Prince Andrew, former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak as some of the important men she was forced to have sex with. She has also accused former President Bill Clinton of partying on Epstein's island.

MARTINEZ: And all of those men have denied the accusations. Are any of those expected to testify?

GARSD: There is a lot of mystery around who the witnesses will be for this case. And what also remains to be seen is whether or not Maxwell had co-conspirators and, if so, will they be called in? How much we find out about that is unclear. There is a possibility that the government is investigating the possible co-conspirators separately.

MARTINEZ: One more thing - what took so long to bring Maxwell to trial?

GARSD: Well, you know, the court system has been absolutely backed up by the pandemic. And it remains to be seen how this plays out in coming weeks. Already, there are a lot of restrictions for journalists coming in because of social distancing. And, yeah, it remains to be seen how it plays out right now.

MARTINEZ: NPR's Jasmine Garsd in New York. Jasmine, thank you.

GARSD: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.