Trump Admits He Can Pardon Ghislaine—Risking MAGA Meltdown
The president said he had not considered pardoning Maxwell, who was convicted for sex-trafficking in connection to Epstein, but he could.
The president made the comments when asked directly about the possibility of a pardon on Friday while departing the White House for Scotland.
'It's something I haven't thought about,' Trump said. 'I'm allowed to do it, but it's something I have not thought about.'
Trump's head-turning response came as his former personal attorney, turned Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche was meeting with Maxwell this week in Florida.
The Justice Department announced he would sit down with the late disgraced financier's accomplice to find out what she knows as it tried to quell the fallout over not releasing the files.
After his meeting with Maxwell on Thursday, Blanche revealed that he would be meeting with her for a second time on Friday.
He indicated that the Justice Department would share what it has learned at an 'appropriate time.'
Maxwell's lawyer David Oscar Markus said that his client answered every questions Blanche asked her and will continue to do so.
'We are grateful that the government is trying to uncover the truth,' Markus said.
The British socialite was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022 after being found guilty by a jury of child sex-trafficking.
She was accused of facilitating and participating in Epstein's abuse of teenage girls for a decade.
Maxwell has appealed her case to the Supreme Court as her lawyers have argued her conviction is invalid because of a non-prosecution and plea agreement made with Epstein in 2007.
Even as Trump indicated he does have the ability to pardon Maxwell, the Justice Department has urged the country's highest court to reject her appeal.
The president was visibly frustrated on Friday with being asked about Epstein as he headed out of town, but members of his own MAGA base have been demanding answers.
Trump insisted he had nothing to do with Epstein and began scapegoating others, despite a series of damaging recent reports on Trump's relationship with the convicted sex offender before he ran for office.
'You should focus on Bill Clinton, you should focus on… the former president of Harvard,' the president said. 'You should focus on some of the hedge fund guys - I'll give you a list.'
'These guys lived with Jeffrey Epstein. I sure as hell didn't,' Trump added.
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