‘It’s Sickening!’ CNN’s Elliot Williams Aghast Over Ghislaine Maxwell’s Offer to Trump

CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams lamented the presidential pardon power after Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyer said she was willing to testify about Jeffrey Epstein only if President Donald Trump grants her clemency.

Attorney David Oscar Markus told lawmakers that was Maxwell’s stance on Monday, right before she pleaded the Fifth Amendment and ducked questions from House Oversight Committee. Williams went on CNN a few hours later and said the whole thing was rotten.

“It’s kind of a reminder of how awful the pardon power is in our world right now. Because the framers drafted it, did not put any guardrails on it, and for the last 240 years — or however long — nothing has been done to restrain it,” Williams lamented. “Presidents have abused the pardon power for a long time. And quite frankly, if President Trump wants to pardon her to clear his name and clear Bill Clinton’s, he’s allowed to, because that’s how vast the pardon power is in the constitution.

He continued, “It’s sickening how it all works! How folks can go to the White House and ask for a pardon and ultimately get one.”

Williams added Trump has “been quite aggressive in giving out pardons” and that’s “sort of how the game is played here.” He said it is up to Congress to make changes to the pardon process.

Maxwell made her plea during a virtual deposition on Monday morning — a plea that Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) said was “obviously very disappointing” afterwards.

“We had many questions to ask about the crimes she and Epstein committed, as well as questions about potential co-conspirators,” Comer told reporters. “We sincerely want to get to the truth for the American people, and justice for the survivors. That’s what this investigation is about.”

Trump has denied any sexual misconduct and said the latest batch of 3.5 million Epstein-related files that were released last month “absolve” him. The New York Times reported a “propriety search tool” found Trump’s name in 5,300 of those documents, but no emails between Trump and Epstein have been unearthed in the millions of documents shared by the Justice Department.

In related news, Trump said he plans on suing author Michael Wolff for “conspiring” with Epstein to sabotage his political career.

Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year federal prison sentence over the central role she played in Epstein’s criminal sexual enterprise.

Watch above via CNN.

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