President Donald Trump said he would look at the case of Jeffrey Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell—while acting like he barely knew her.
The Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of the convicted sex trafficker, who is currently serving 20 years in prison.
During an afternoon appearance in the Oval Office, Trump was asked if he would consider pardoning Maxwell in light of Monday’s Supreme Court decision, and he did not close the door on it.
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked the president about the Supreme Court rejecting Maxwell’s appeal and a potential pardon while he was taking reporters’ questions.
Collins noted that a presidential pardon was her only option to get out of prison in the near future and asked if the president was open to pardoning her.
“Who are we talking about?” Trump asked as if he had not heard the name.
“Ghislaine Maxwell,” Collins clarified.
“You know, I haven’t heard the name in so long,” Trump responded.
“I can say this‚ that I’d have to take a look at it,” Trump continued. “I would have to take a look.”
Maxwell’s name has come up numerous times in questions to the president and the White House in recent months after the Trump administration botched the release of the Epstein files.
Trump’s response on Monday was also not the first time the president has left the door open to pardoning Maxwell, whom he has known since before he ever ran for president, but has desperately attempted to distance himself from.
The president on Monday asked what had happened with the Supreme Court request, to which Collins explained to Trump that the court had rejected hearing her case.
“I see. Well, I’ll take a look at it,” Trump said. “I will speak to the DOJ.”
The president, similar to when he was asked about in the past, did not rule out a pardon.
“I wouldn’t consider it or not consider it. I don’t know anything about it,” the president added. “I will speak to the DOJ.”
When pressed on why she would be a potential candidate for a pardon, the president insisted he did not know but repeated he would speak to the Justice Department.
Trump said he would look at it but claimed “a lot of people” have asked him for pardons.
When it was pointed out to the president that Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking, the president repeated simply that he would have to “take a look at it.”
“I didn’t know they rejected. I didn’t know she was even asking for it, frankly,” the president said.
In July, Trump said that he was “allowed” to pardon Maxwell when asked about it, but he claimed no one had approached him with the request.
Maxwell’s lawyer at the time said they were not just appealing to the Supreme Court but to the president directly.
Maxwell was convicted in 2021 in connection to the late convicted sex offender, but her lawyers argued she was improperly prosecuted following Epstein’s plea deal in Florida years earlier.
On Monday, which was the first day of the Supreme Court’s new term, the country’s highest court said it would not hear Maxwell’s appeal of her conviction.
The Trump administration has been in cleanup mode for months after it said in July it would not release any more files related to the Epstein case, despite promises to do exactly that by top Trump officials.
They also said there would be no more charges related to the case and that there was no Epstein client list. The revelations, which were made in a memo, sparked an avalanche of questions about what the Justice Department knew. It also launched a series of allegations about a cover-up.
Trump’s former personal attorney and current Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche even traveled to Florida to interview Maxwell for two days about what she knew as the administration looked to contain the fallout and distance the president from Epstein and Maxwell.
The administration later released audio and a transcript of Maxwell’s interview with Blanche. In it, she lavished praise on Trump and insisted she had never seen the now-president in any inappropriate setting.
However, the pressure has not let up and some members of Congress are still calling for the full files in the Epstein case to be released.
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