Trump says he could pardon Ghislaine Maxwell but hasn’t thought about it

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President Donald Trump said he had the ability to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell, the associate of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, in exchange for her cooperation with ongoing investigations but had not yet considered whether to do so.

“I’m allowed to do it, but it’s something I have not thought about,” Trump said Friday at the White House before departing for a trip to Scotland.

Trump demurred again at another point during his exchange with journalists, saying it was an ongoing investigation.

Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in helping Epstein sexually abuse underage women, is meeting Friday for the second day with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. Blanche, who previously served as Trump’s personal attorney, set the meeting amid mounting pressure on the administration to release additional documents related to the case.

Critics of the president — and even some congressional allies — have warned against Trump offering a pardon to Maxwell, saying it could prompt her to mislead investigators.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, told CNN this week that any request for a pardon should be “off the table” and that he did not believe any fellow GOP members would support it.

In recent days, the Wall Street Journal has reported that Trump is mentioned among scores of other business and political figures in the Justice Department’s Epstein files, while stressing that inclusion did not mean that individuals were involved in criminal activity. The paper also reported that the president at one point wrote Epstein a letter with a drawing and personal message for a birthday book that was prepared for the late financier.

Trump has denied the letter and filed a lawsuit against Dow Jones & Co., News Corp. and Rupert Murdoch for libel over their report.

Trump told reporters on Friday that he trusted Blanche in his conversations with Maxwell, calling the Justice Department official a “professional lawyer.”

“I think he’s been through things like this before,” Trump said.

But the president also expressed frustration with the focus on his relationship with Epstein, saying the media should focus on other individuals and that he had “nothing to do with the guy.”

“I never went to the island,” Trump said, appearing to refer to properties in the Caribbean that belonged to Epstein and where it is alleged that the financier sexually abused and trafficked young women.

“You should focus on some of the hedge fund guys. I’ll give you a list,” Trump said. “These guys lived with Jeffrey Epstein, I sure as hell didn’t.”