Donald Trump is plotting a “hidden pardon” deal with Ghislaine Maxwell to clear his name during the administration’s Jeffrey Epstein crisis, according to a former Pam Bondi aide.
Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in Epstein’s sex trafficking of minors, was interviewed on Thursday by Justice Department officials, including Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
Dave Aronberg, a former state attorney for Palm Beach County who was once Bondi’s drug czar when she was Florida’s attorney general, said on CNN that Blanche’s role in the interview was “extremely extraordinary.”
“It’s as if the number two executive at CNN was conducting this interview with me instead of you,” he told host Brianna Keilar. “Like, what? It never happens. Also, he’s not going to be knowledgeable about this case like the line prosecutors who actually handled her case.”
Aronberg suggested that the interview could be part of a scheme by the Trump administration to “protect the president” as he faces a surge of concerns about his relationship to Epstein.
He hypothesized that there could be “a deal with Ghislaine Maxwell that she would get some immunity now and maybe a hidden pardon in the future: some sort of implication that she would be pardoned in the future if she comes out and says that the president was… not involved in any criminal activity.”
Aronberg also thought it was telling that Blanche, a former personal attorney for Trump, was the one handling the situation.
“Trump doesn’t want to be anywhere near this smoke,” he said. “That’s why he’s sending his trusted former defense lawyer, the number two person of the Department of Justice, to go see Ghislaine Maxwell.”
While Aronberg acknowledged that there’s no evidence that Trump is implicated in any of Epstein’s crimes, he pointed to reports this week that Bondi had informed Trump that his name appears in the Epstein files.
The Justice Department and the White House did not immediately return a requests for comment.
Trump has faced outcry, especially from his supporters, after an FBI and DOJ memo dismissed conspiracy theories that the files contain a so-called “client list” or any evidence that Epstein was murdered.
Although Trump has tried to downplay his relationship with Epstein, he was a friend to the financier until a falling out in 2004 and has been photographed alongside Epstein and Maxwell.
In 2024, the Daily Beast exclusively published audio tapes recorded in 2017 in which Epstein said that he was once Trump’s “closest friend.”
Last week, Trump was rocked by a Wall Street Journal report that revealed he gave Epstein a drawing of a naked woman and a birthday note.
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