Few stories have gripped the public interest like the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking scandal, which has ensnared some of the most powerful people in the world, including President Donald Trump. With Epstein’s accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, serving 20 years for her part in his crimes, many have speculated as to whether she will receive a pardon from the president, suggesting he may offer clemency in exchange for keeping quiet about Trump’s dealings with Epstein. Now Maxwell’s attorney says “there’s a good chance” it will happen.
“I think she’s a scapegoat,” said Florida attorney David Oscar Markus. “She would never have been prosecuted had Jeffrey Epstein not committed suicide, or whatever, however he died.”
A former student of Alan Dershowitz — a notorious lawyer who has served the likes of Epstein, O.J. Simpson, and Harvey Weinstein — Markus’s high-profile casework has previously brought him into the orbit of Trump’s legal team, and he once held a meeting with Trump amidst accusations that the president had mishandled classified documents. At that point, Markus was already becoming involved with Maxwell, after writing an opinion article in 2021 where he declared, “Bill Cosby is free; Ghislaine Maxwell should be, too.”
For a few years, the Epstein story faded into the background, but then in July 2025, a Justice Department memo put it back on the front page by suggesting that there was no “Epstein list” and that the case was essentially closed. This drew such vocal outrage — even among Trump’s base — that Congress was prompted to pass legislation requiring the release of the Epstein files. All of this brought renewed attention to Trump’s relationship with Epstein.
Suddenly Markus — by now formally representing Maxwell — reached out to Trump attorney Todd Blanche.
“I thought it would be important, because there was so much misinformation going out there about her and about the president,” Markus said. “I just thought there’s just a ton of misinformation, and she could help.”
This resulted in a highly publicized meeting between Maxwell and Blanche, in which she claimed she did not witness Trump do anything “inappropriate” and praised his “extraordinary achievement in becoming the President now.” For this meeting she was granted limited immunity so her words could not be used against her, then afterwards, she was transferred to a minimum security prison. Many have questioned whether this preferential treatment was offered as a reward for her silence.
Then in October 2025, the Supreme Court declined to hear Maxwell’s appeal. At that point, her only hope for avoiding the remainder of her prison sentence became a pardon from the president. Trump has said he has not thought about it, but that he has also not ruled it out and would confer with the DOJ about it.
Now Markus is optimistic about the prospect.
“[Maxwell] obviously wants clemency,” said Markus. “There’s no secret about that. I don’t think now is the best time to do it, with everything going on.” But he didn’t rule it out, saying, “I don’t know what the percentages are. There’s a good chance and for good reason that she would get a pardon.”
But Representative Robert Garcia (D-CA), the top Democrat on the committee probing the Epstein case, says that should not happen.
“Ghislaine Maxwell is a convicted sex offender who helped Jeffrey Epstein traffic young women and girls, and she refused to answer a single question before the Oversight Committee,” he said. “The idea that she deserves a pardon is disgusting and outrageous.”