President Donald Trump revealed on Friday that he has not thought about giving a pardon or commutation to Ghislaine Maxwell, although he didn’t rule it out.
“It’s something I haven’t thought about. I’m allowed to do it, but it’s something I have not thought about,” Trump said in response to the question from a CNN reporter.
Asked again later if clemency is on the table, Trump told reporters at the White House: “I can’t talk about that now. … it’s very sensitive,” before going on to praise Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche who he said “is over there now.”
Maxwell and Blanche met in Florida on Thursday and are scheduled to meet again on Friday.
“I don’t know about the meeting. I know it’s taking place, and he’s a fantastic man. He’s a great attorney,” Trump said of Blanche, who’s also his former criminal defense attorney.
Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison in 2022 for conspiring with Jeffrey Epstein to seduce and sexually assault minor females over several years. She has continued to appeal her conviction.
WATCH:
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche met on Thursday with Ghislaine Maxwell, an imprisoned former associate of millionaire and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as part of a renewed Justice Department (DOJ) effort for openness in the high-profile case.
The Florida meeting, which Blanche previously stated he was seeking to organize, comes as President Donald Trump’s supporters attack the government for withholding further Epstein inquiry papers.
Blanche said after the meeting that he will meet with Maxwell again on Friday.
Blanche posted on X just after 7 p.m. Thursday, “Today, I met with Ghislaine Maxwell, and I will continue my interview of her tomorrow. The Department of Justice will share additional information about what we learned at the appropriate time.”
“Ms. Maxwell answered every single question. She never stopped, she never invoked a privilege, she never declined to answer. She answered all the questions truthfully, honestly and to the best of her ability,” said Maxwell’s attorney, David Oscar Markus, speaking to reporters outside the federal courthouse in Tallahassee, Florida.