Trump won't rule out pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell
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President Trump told reporters Monday that he is "allowed" to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell. Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
President Trump won't rule out pardoning convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, he said Monday.
Why it matters: Trump's comments about Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence, come amid growing bipartisan pressure over his administration's handling of information tied to the Jeffrey Epstein case.
Driving the news: Trump told reporters Monday that he is "allowed" to pardon Maxwell.
- "Well, I'm allowed to give her a pardon but nobody's approached me with it, nobody's asked me about it," Trump said. "It's in the news about that—that aspect of it, but right now it would be inappropriate to talk about it," he said.
- Trump also said on Friday, "It's something I haven't thought about... I'm allowed to do it, but it's something I have not thought about."
Catch up quick: Maxwell, who was prosecuted for sex trafficking minors with Epstein, was granted "limited" immunity by the Justice Department to answer questions about the child sex trafficking ring that led to her sentence, multiple outlets reported off anonymous sources.
- Maxwell spoke to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche for several hours over two days.
- Maxwell's attorney David Markus told ABC News on Friday she was asked about "maybe 100 different people" and "She didn't hold anything back."
- "This is not a situation where we are asking for anything in return for testimony or anything like that," Markus said. "Of course, everybody knows Ms. Maxwell would welcome any relief."
The intrigue: MAGA activists have suggested that Maxwell could be essential to exposing information about an alleged elite pedophile ring at the heart of Epstein conspiracy theories.
What we're watching: Maxwell pressed ahead with an appeal to the Supreme Court to overturn her conviction on Monday.
- Maxwell's appeal revolves around a controversial 2007 non-prosecution agreement Epstein negotiated with the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of Florida.
- "The United States," the non-prosecution agreement stated, "agrees that it will not institute any criminal charges against any potential co-conspirators of Epstein, including but not limited to" four other suspects.
- Maxwell was not listed as one of those suspects, but her lawyers argue she didn't need to be.
Trump is also challenging recent reports about his associations with Epstein.
- Trump is suing the Wall Street Journal and owner Rupert Murdoch for releasing a report about a "bawdy" birthday letter bearing Trump's name in the book that Maxwell allegedly collated in 2003.
- Trump has called the signature a forgery and denied reports that Attorney General Pam Bondi briefed him about his name appearing in the Epstein files.
