President Donald Trump has once again refused multiple times to definitively rule out a pardon for convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell – the chief co-conspirator of convicted child predator Jeffrey Epstein.
During a Monday press gaggle in the Oval Office, CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins asked Trump his thoughts on the U.S. Supreme Court declining to hear Maxwell's appeal of her 2021 conviction, for which she is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence. Trump was largely noncommittal, and told Collins "a lot of people ask me for pardons," despite Collins reminding Trump she was found guilty of child sex trafficking.
"Her only chance of getting out of prison is a pardon from you," Collins said. "Is that something you—"
"–Who are we talking about?" Trump asked. "You know, I haven't heard the name in so long. I can say this, I'd have to take a look at it ... I wouldn't consider it or not consider it, I don't know anything about it. I'll speak to the DOJ."
Trump's waffling on the prospect of a pardon for one of the most notorious sex criminals in the federal prison caused a firestorm of outrage among various journalists, commentators and experts on social media. Mother Jones editor-in-chief Clara Jeffery wrote on Bluesky: "It's right in front of our faces." Metro Weekly editor Randy Shulman opined that Trump was "a master of pretending he knows nothing about everything." CNN senior political reporter Aaron Blake observed that Trump has previously taken a neutral stance on pardoning Maxwell when he was asked about it this summer.
"If there's anyone telling him "maybe we shouldn't do that," message apparently not received," Blake tweeted.
"He’s so guilty. The pressure is really on Trump now because Maxwell wants out of jail," progressive influencer Tom Joseph wrote on X.
"Trump’s definitely on the Epstein list," liberal commentator Vince Wilson wrote. "Biggest coverup in modern American history."
"Trump is going to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell," journalist Wajahat Ali posted to Bluesky. "They'll never release the Epstein files because Trump is all over them."
In July, Maxwell met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche (who was previously Trump's personal attorney) at the Florida prison where she had been incarcerated since 2022 and reportedly gave up information on roughly 100 different people. She was later transferred to a far more lenient federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas, where multiple high-profile white-collar criminals like Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes are serving their sentences. Maxwell's transfer happened despite a Bureau of Prisons rule preventing violent offenders (which includes sex traffickers) from serving at facilities like Bryan.