She was central to helping Jeffrey Epstein abuse young girls. But convicted sex offender Maxwell may not be the silver bullet the Trump administration needs.
Updated: 2 hours agoAs the Jeffrey Epstein controversy threatens to consume Washington, what Epstein’s onetime partner Ghislaine Maxwell knows could determine how the matter unfolds for President Donald Trump.
Administration officials infuriated Trump’s political base by not revealing more information from Epstein’s criminal files; now they have zeroed in on Maxwell as a potential source of new information - and a path forward. Maxwell, 63, is serving a 20-year prison sentence in Florida for helping Epstein groom, traffic and abuse dozens of underage girls. Prosecutors say she was often by Epstein’s side as he traveled and partied - and sometimes participated in his abuse. Legal experts doubt that Maxwell can provide new and credible information about who else might have abused the girls alongside Epstein. Not much came out during her trial. And now her motives are in question as she appeals her conviction to the Supreme Court and appears to be hoping for a pardon from Trump, who hasn’t ruled out giving one to his former acquaintance.Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell wants immunity and questions in advance to testify for Congress“Any deal at this stage in which she suddenly reveals damaging facts about prominent people would be a huge red flag,” said Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney who teaches at the University of Michigan Law School.Maxwell played a central role in Epstein’s life Maxwell is a British socialite who dated Epstein, a wealthy and well-connected financier, in the ’90s and early 2000s. She helped him recruit dozens of adolescent girls, some as young as 14. The stories from her victims are hard to hear; many said that Maxwell found them during troubled times in their lives and that they thought of her as an older sister before she led them to Epstein and other men, trafficked them, and at times abused them herself.They came to light in 2018, after the Miami Herald investigated Epstein’s sex crimes conviction in Florida in the early 2000s, when he received a secret, lenient plea deal. Federal prosecutors began investigating Epstein anew, charged him and expanded their investigation. Maxwell was arrested in 2020 on charges that she groomed and sexually abused underage girls alongside Epstein. Epstein died in jail in 2019 before going to trial, but Maxwell’s case was heard in court in 2022. Her trial focused on six girls who said they were abused because of Maxwell, but prosecutors argued that the six were a small part of a much larger criminal enterprise. “The defendant acted as an organizer and leader of a massive operation that spanned many years,” the government said in one legal filing. “In operating as the lady of the house and as Epstein’s right hand, the defendant was responsible for overseeing and organizing extensive logistics involved in facilitating the sexual abuse of multiple minors and ensuring a culture of silence that prevented that scheme from being uncovered.” Maxwell’s lawyers argued that she was being punished for Epstein’s crimes since he could no longer face charges. The judge disagreed and sentenced her to 20 years in prison - beyond what federal guidelines suggested.“Prosecutors would have fully explored whether she had any valuable information before she went to trial and was sentenced,” said McQuade. “Anyone who could have been charged would have been charged a long time ago.” Still, with many Americans saying they are suspicious that the Trump administration is hiding something, Justice Department officials visited Maxwell near her Florida prison last week. Her lawyer said she answered questions about nearly 100 people. Members of Congress are expected to interview her next month. “This deposition will help the American people understand how Jeffrey Epstein was able to carry out his evil actions for so long without being brought to justice,” said Rep. Tim Burchett .Epstein had hundreds of contacts, including princes, presidents and Wall Street barons, and he allegedly trafficked the girls recruited for sex. One victim testified that Maxwell told herFlight logs released as part of her trial showed that Trump, former president Bill Clinton and billionaires had taken multiple flights on Epstein’s private jet. Though Epstein also had a private island that his famous friends frequently visited, Trump said this week that he “never had the privilege of going to his island.” Prosecutors did present evidence that Maxwell visited Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s club and estate in Palm Beach, Florida. In fact, she recruited a girl who worked at Mar-a-Lago, Virginia Giuffre, who became one of Epstein’s most vocal accusers. Separate from Maxwell’s trial, Giuffre offered a glimpse into the scope of Epstein’s scheme. Britain’s Prince Andrew settled a suit with Giuffre in 2022 after she alleged that Epstein forced her to have sexual encounters with Andrew. And Giuffre said in a 2016 deposition that Trump had been to Epstein’s house, where she said there were images on the walls of “young girls doing things to each other that would be considered child pornography. If you walked foot into Jeffrey Epstein’s house and you went in there and you continued to be an acquaintance of his then you would have to know what was going on there.” Another victim who testified at the trial said she met Trump alongside Epstein at Mar-a-Lago when she was 14, as part of a teen pageant Trump owned. Another pageant contestant for Miss USA, which Trump owned for years before turning his focus to politics, said Trump came “waltzing in” backstage when the contestants were half naked or nude. Trump has said he cut ties with Epstein before he was arrested in 2006. This week, Trump said the falling-out was caused by Epstein stealing his employees.The government said Maxwell lied repeatedly under oath leading up to her trial. Now that she’s in prison, legal experts say she has an obvious interest in telling the government what it wants to hear. She is asking the Supreme Court to hear her appeal of her conviction and has been open to a pardon from Trump. Trump also seems focused on Maxwell. This month, he urged his Justice Department to seek the release of grand jury testimony from her investigation . And Trump’s former criminal defense lawyer, who is now No. 2 at the Justice Department, was the official chosen to interview Maxwell over two days last week.Trump has not ruled out a pardon that would set her free but said that “nobody’s approached me with it.” Republican congressional leaders haven’t publicly warned Trump against granting a pardon, preferring to defer to the president. Setting her credibility issues aside, if Maxwell provides information that’s helpful for Trump in exchange for getting out of jail, the president would be in the unenviable position of pardoning a convicted child abuser. “You’d imagine Trump would prefer not to be in a situation where his best strategic move appears to be to flirt with pardoning one of America’s most despicable criminals,” Andrew Egger wrote in the conservative, anti-Trump newsletter the Bulwark.
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