US President Donald Trump has said he has not been asked to pardon disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell following her "truthful" answers to government questions about sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The 63-year-old convicted sex-trafficker was interviewed by the US Department of Justice last week.
Maxwell was found guilty in December 2021 of luring young girls to massage rooms for paedophile financier Epstein to molest between 1994 and 2004. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison at the federal court in the southern district of New York in June 2022.
Government faces Trump supporter backlash
The US government faced a backlash from Trump's support base following words from Attorney General Pam Bondi that there was no evidence Epstein had a "client list". Following the criticisms, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche met with Maxwell over the course of two days.
Blanche said: "No-one is above the law and no lead is off-limits." Maxwell's lawyer David Markus said his client would "testify truthfully" during the interviews.
Maxwell's lawyer confirms cooperation
Markus previously said the disgraced socialite had not been offered a pardon as part of the interview process. In a short statement ahead of the meetings, the lawyer said: "I can confirm that we are in discussions with the government and that Ghislaine will always testify truthfully."
He added: "We are grateful to President Trump for his commitment to uncovering the truth in this case." Questioned on whether he had been asked to pardon Maxwell, Trump told reporters on Monday: "Well, I'm allowed to give her a pardon, but nobody's approached me with it."
Trump declines to discuss pardons
The President continued: "Nobody's asked me about it. It's in the news - that aspect of it - but right now, it would be inappropriate to talk about it." During her three-week trial in 2021, jurors heard prosecutors describe Maxwell as "dangerous".
They were told details of how she helped entice vulnerable teenagers to Epstein's various properties for him to sexually abuse. Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.
The death was ruled a suicide.
(PA) Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
