Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyer believes President Donald Trump is likely to pardon the convicted sex trafficker and longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein, according to a new report.
“I don’t know what the percentages are,” David Oscar Markus, Maxwell’s attorney, told Politico. “There’s a good chance and for good reason that she would get a pardon.”
Markus described his client as “a scapegoat” who never would have been prosecuted if Epstein had not died by suicide while in prison in 2019 — but he said he has not yet spoken to the White House about a potential pardon and suggested she will need to be patient.
“[Maxwell] obviously wants clemency,” he said. “There’s no secret about that. I don’t think now is the best time to do it, with everything going on.”
Trump previously said he has not given much thought to the possibility of granting Maxwell clemency, but he has not ruled it out. Late last year, he told reporters he would “speak to the DOJ” about it. The idea has been floated as Epstein and his crimes continue to grab the nation’s attention. Some have suggested a pardon for Maxwell so she can detail other people allegedly involved in Esptein’s crimes.
A number of lawmakers, particularly Democrats, have expressed strong opposition to the notion of granting Maxwell any form of reprieve.
Rep. Robert Garcia, a California Democrat, told Politico that pardoning Maxwell would be “disgusting and outrageous,” noting that she “helped Jeffrey Epstein traffic young women and girls.”
The brother of Virginia Giuffre, an Epstein victim who died last year, told NBC News in September that a pardon would be “the biggest slap in the face for us as a family and to these girls.”
“I don’t think 20 years is enough,” he added. “I think that people that are able to put that kind of evil out into the world…should be locked away forever.”
The Independent has contacted the White House and the Department of Justice for comment.
The Epstein scandal has dominated headlines like few other stories and haunted the Trump administration for months.
Last year, Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, requiring the Department of Justice to release all its documents on Epstein. Although the department missed the law’s deadline, it has since published millions of pages, many of which mention Trump and other prominent figures. The House Oversight Committee is now probing Epstein’s network and has interviewed several individuals, including former President Bill Clinton and Ohio billionaire Les Wexner, who had close ties to Epstein.
An appearance in the files does not mean wrongdoing and many people, including Trump, have said they had nothing to do with Epstein’s crimes.
Maxwell lies at the heart of the controversy.
In 2022, she was convicted on multiple sex‑crime charges, including sex trafficking of a minor, making her the only Epstein co‑conspirator to be tried and found guilty. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and has maintained her innocence.
Last October, the Supreme Court denied her appeal seeking a review of whether prosecutors had fairly brought the case against her. That decision left the White House as her only remaining path to getting out of prison.
While serving out her sentence in Florida, she took part in a lengthy interview with then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, the president’s former attorney. During their sit-down, Maxwell said she never saw Trump engaged in any kind of appropriate behavior.
Shortly afterward, she was moved to a minimum‑security prison in Texas, a transfer that Trump said he knew nothing about.
In February, Maxwell invoked her Fifth Amendment right and refused to answer questions during a virtual appearance before the House Oversight Committee. At the time, Markus said his client is “prepared to speak fully and honestly if granted clemency by President Trump.”
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