'Political and legal dance': Ex-federal prosecutor details 'DOJ move' that would 'shock' him

Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, now serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for her role in Epstein's crimes, met with Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche in late July — fueling speculation of a possible reduction in her sentence or even a full pardon from President Donald Trump. At the same time, Maxwell's attorneys are appealing her conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court in the hope of getting the conviction overturned.

During a Monday morning, July 28 appearance on CNN, legal analysist Elie Honig — a former federal prosecutor — told host Wolf Blitzer that it is "unlikely but not impossible" that the High Court "takes this case."

When Blitzer asked Honig what "other legal avenues" Maxwell's lawyers "could purse" if her Supreme Court "appeal fails," the former U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutor replied, "So it's clear that Ghislaine Maxwell now is making a play for some sort of leniency. She got a 20-year sentence; she's about five years into that sentence, and she's in her mid-60s. The other way she could get relief are — there's really two main ways. One is to hope for a pardon or commutation, and we've seen various comments made by the president refusing to rule that out, saying he hasn't thought about it."

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Honig continued, "But the other one is Maxwell can try to convince DOJ prosecutors. And this may be what's part of behind the meeting that she had last week. She can try to convince the DOJ to write a letter — what we call a Rule 35 letter — to a court saying, 'Yes, she's already been convicted and sentenced. However, she's been cooperative. Her cooperation was helpful, and therefore, judge, we ask you to sentence her to something lower.'"

The CNN analyst expressed great skepticism over the possibility of Maxwell being beneficial enough to DOJ prosecutors to get a reduced sentence.

Honig told Blitzer, "From DOJ's perspective, it's a little bit unclear what exactly they're doing. I am skeptical that Ghislaine Maxwell is anywhere near credible enough to sign up as a cooperator, and to bring other indictments based on her information. I cannot envision myself ever having done that. It would shock me if DOJ did that. So maybe they're just trying to get her information."

Honig added, "Maybe they have some interest in getting whatever she said out there to the public to try to appease critics. But there's an interesting sort of political and legal dance happening here between the parties."

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