In early August, Donald Trump was asked about a possible pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, the Jeffrey Epstein associate who was convicted of child sex trafficking. The president didn’t rule out the possibility.
“I’m allowed to do it,” he replied at the time, adding: “I know I have the right to do it.”
Two months later, the Republican continues to leave that door open. NBC News reported:
Asked in the Oval Office whether he would consider a pardon for Maxwell, Trump told reporters: ‘I haven’t heard the name in so long. I can say this, that I’d have to take a look at it. I would have to take a look.’ Asked to confirm whether he was considering such an action, Trump responded: ‘I wouldn’t consider it or not consider.’
As part of the same exchange, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked why Maxwell would even be considered at all as a candidate for clemency, he again said he’d have to speak to the Justice Department.
Reminded that Maxwell was convicted of child sex trafficking, Trump concluded: “Yeah, I mean, I’m going to have to take a look at it. I’d have to ask DOJ.”
In case this isn’t obvious, it would’ve been easy for the president to simply say, “No, I have no intention of pardoning a convicted child sex trafficker.” But once again, he chose not to.
I won’t pretend to know what, if anything, is going to happen in this case, but the circumstances are hardly ideal. We know that Trump was reportedly told by his attorney general that his name appears in the Epstein files. We know that the Trump administration has refused to disclose those files. We know that the administration also already arranged to move Maxwell to a lower-security detention facility where convicted sex offenders typically aren’t housed.
It’s against that backdrop that the president’s position remains unchanged: A Maxwell pardon is still on the table. Watch this space.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
