Todd Blanche, the acting US attorney general, has told lawmakers he would not recommend a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Blanche made the comments during a Senate hearing on Tuesday while testifying before the appropriations subcommittee on budget requests for the justice department.
During an exchange with Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, Blanche was asked whether he could commit to not recommending a pardon for Maxwell. “Yes, I can commit to that, of course,” Blanche responded. The statement comes after Maxwell exhausted her appeals, with the US Supreme Court declining to hear her petition in October.
Earlier this year, Maxwell appeared before the House oversight and reform committee but invoked her Fifth Amendment right, refusing to answer questions. Her attorney indicated she would only speak if granted clemency. Reports in April suggested committee members were divided over whether Trump should consider pardoning Maxwell in exchange for cooperation in the Epstein investigation.
Blanche, a former personal lawyer for Trump, interviewed Maxwell last July while serving as deputy attorney general. Shortly after, Maxwell was transferred from a low-security prison in Florida to a minimum-security camp in Texas, a move experts described as “unprecedented”. Blanche denied that Trump personally sent him to interview Maxwell and said he did not know whether she was receiving better treatment.
The possibility of clemency has angered survivors of Epstein’s abuse. Spencer Kuvin, representing numerous survivors, said “any talk of clemency for Ghislaine Maxwell in exchange for testimony turns justice on its head”. During the hearing, Van Hollen challenged Blanche to meet with survivors, to which Blanche replied he had already met with many of their lawyers. However, a group of 17 survivors later released a statement saying Blanche “has not met with any of us”.
