House Oversight chair says some members support a Ghislaine Maxwell pardon

WASHINGTON— The Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee said some of its members would support a presidential pardon for convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell in exchange for helping the committee’s investigation of Jeffrey Epstein.

But good luck getting anyone to admit it.

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) told Politico on Wednesday: “many people” He supports the idea of ​​Maxwell receiving a pardon from President Trump in exchange for cooperating with the committee’s investigation.

Although Comer said he was against pardons — “Other than Epstein, the worst person in this whole investigation is Maxwell” — he suggested his committee was “divided” on the issue.

Rep. Robert Garcia of Long Beach, the top Democrat on the committee. Maxwell condemns pardon idea and said the Democrats on the committee were completely against it.

“It is outrageous that Republicans on the Oversight Committee are considering a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell,” Garcia said in a statement. “He is a sexual abuser who facilitates the rape of women and children.”

The Times reached out to all 26 Republicans on the committee to find out who supports the amnesty idea.

Some who responded expressed outrage at the idea, although most did not respond.

“I absolutely do not support a pardon for him, and I haven’t heard that from anyone else,” said Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.).

“Never in a thousand years,” said Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.).

Maxwell refused to answer the committee’s questions during a February video deposition from a Texas federal prison where she is serving a 20-year sentence.

He is still appealing his 2021 conviction on five counts related to sex trafficking of minors for his role in recruiting and grooming girls for Epstein to exploit. At the hearing he was also accused of participating in the abuse of a victim.

In his deposition in February, Maxwell’s lawyer, David Oscar Markus, said he would present the “unfiltered truth” if Trump’s pardon was granted.

Lawyers representing victims abused by Epstein and Maxwell have strongly opposed the idea of ​​amnesty.

“This is a woman who will be behind bars for the rest of her life for what she did to women,” said Spencer Kuvin, who represents multiple Epstein victims.

Sigrid McCawley, managing partner of Boies Schiller Flexner, questioned the value of the information Maxwell could provide.

“Ghislaine Maxwell is a proven liar,” McCawley said in a statement. “He has nothing credible to offer the government and his claim that he will provide information is just a smokescreen.”

Epstein abused more than 1,000 girls and young women over decades. Nearly two decades ago, he negotiated a lenient deal with federal prosecutors in south Florida that allowed him to serve 13 months in the Palm Beach County jail, where he was allowed to come and go freely, to resolve allegations that he molested dozens of high school girls.

Following Miami Herald reporting of the investigation into this deal, federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York brought new sex charges against Epstein in July 2019. Epstein died a month later while in federal custody.

Epstein and Maxwell counted members of the British royal family, many presidents and business moguls among their friends.

They are accused of forcing some of their victims to have sex with some of these men. But Maxwell is the only other person charged in connection with Epstein’s crimes.

The committee removed several people who knew Epstein, including Ohio billionaire Les Wexner, who hired Epstein to manage his financial affairs, former President Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

But the committee did not remove Trump, who once called Epstein a “great guy” and said, “I just wish her good luck” when told Maxwell would be arrested in 2020.

The Justice Department also released millions of pages of documents from its investigations into the deceased sex offender in response to the bipartisan Epstein Files Transparency Act that became law last year.

The release of the files led to criminal investigations in the United Kingdom into former prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and former British ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson over allegations they provided confidential government information to Epstein.

So far, the files have not led to any public criminal investigations in the United States.