Trump Keeps Door Open to Pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell: ‘I’m Allowed to Do It’

In a disjointed press gaggle Friday morning on the South Lawn of the White House, President Donald Trump was asked whether he would consider issuing a pardon or clemency to Ghislaine Maxwell — the longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein who is currently in discussions with the Department of Justice, including Trump’s own former defense attorney turned Deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanche.

Trump did not say no.

Instead, the former president praised Blanche as “a great attorney” before pivoting, as he often does, to a list of other Epstein-adjacent figures — most notably former President Bill Clinton and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers.

“You ought to be speaking about Larry Summers,” Trump insisted. “You ought to be speaking about some of his friends that are hedge fund guys. They’re all over the place. You ought to be speaking about Bill Clinton, who went to the island 28 times. I never went to the island.”

The comments were classic Trump: he avoided the central question and launched into a series of grievances that seemed designed to deflect attention away from his own legal vulnerabilities and longtime ties to Epstein and Maxwell. When pressed on whether he had written a birthday letter to Epstein — a rumor that has circulated in certain corners of the internet — Trump flatly denied it. “I don’t even know what they’re talking about,” he said. “Now, somebody could have written a letter and used my name, but that’s happened a lot.”

He then segued into familiar territory: a monologue about “the fake dossier,” the Russia investigation, and Democrats, whom he described as “a bunch of sick people.”

What was missing? Any denial that Maxwell might be in line for a pardon or clemency.

The question then came up again later in the gaggle and Trump said while he hadn’t “thought about it” he insisted it was something he was “allowed” to do:

While critics see Blanche apparently playing a dual role — defending Trump while also representing the DOJ while engaging with Epstein’s longtime confidante — this evolving narrative will likely generate intense scrutiny from both prosecutors and political observers. For now, Trump’s refusal to deny the possibility of clemency for Maxwell leaves the door wide open — and raises plenty of new questions.

Watch above via CNN.