President Donald Trump on Monday said he will decide whether to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell, an associate of Jeffrey Epstein, after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear her appeal of her sex-trafficking conviction:
“I haven’t heard the name in so long,” Trump said as he spoke to reporters in the Oval Office. “I’d have to take a look at it.”
Reporter: “But she’s convicted of child sex trafficking.”
Trump: “Yeah, I mean, I’m gonna have to take a look at it.”
Maxwell, Epstein’s ex-girlfriend, was convicted of helping Epstein lure girls and women into his sex-trafficking ring. But Trump said he’d have to ask the Justice Department to look into a pardon, saying “a lot of people,” such as Sean “Diddy” Combs, have asked him for pardons.
“I call him ‘Puff Daddy,’” Trump said about Combs.
The Trump administration had been defending the charges and conviction before the U.S. Supreme Court, which on Monday rejected Maxwell’s appeal of her conviction. And the president reportedly wants his supporters and administration to move on from the Epstein story, which has dogged him for months and animates his base. Months before Trump made these comments, Maxwell heaped praise on Trump during a meeting with the Justice Department. Soon after the interview, Maxwell was transferred to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas.
