US Senate warns Trump against pardoning Epstein-linked sex trafficker
The US Senate has unanimously urged President Donald Trump not to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex trafficker who helped Jeffrey Epstein recruit and abuse underage girls.
Maxwell, the daughter of disgraced British newspaper tycoon and former MP Robert Maxwell, who had suspected ties to Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, is currently serving a 20-year federal prison sentence after being convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking and related offenses.
The resolution, introduced by Democratic Senator Jacky Rosen and approved without objection from either party on Wednesday, states that Maxwell should not receive “a pardon, commutation, or any other form of executive clemency.”
Rosen stated that it was “horrifying” that Trump had even entertained the possibility of clemency, arguing that Maxwell should never receive a pardon for helping Epstein abuse underage girls.
Trump has repeatedly declined to categorically rule out pardoning Maxwell. When asked about the possibility last year, he stressed that he had the authority to do so but said nobody had approached him with a request. He later also said he would consult the US Justice Department following the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear Maxwell’s appeal in October 2025.
Speculation over possible clemency further intensified after Todd Blanche, then deputy attorney general and now Trump’s nominee for attorney general, interviewed Maxwell for around nine hours over two days as part of the Justice Department’s Epstein investigation.
Maxwell was granted limited immunity for the interview and was transferred to a lower-security federal prison shortly afterward. Her lawyer denied that she had sought anything in return for cooperating but acknowledged that she would welcome relief from her sentence. Blanche has said he would not recommend a pardon.
The Senate move comes amid continued anger over the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files. The disclosure process has faced criticism over delays, extensive redactions and the absence of major new prosecutions, disappointing supporters who had expected the records to expose powerful figures connected to Epstein.
Trump and Maxwell moved in the same social circles in New York and Florida during the 1990s and early 2000s, when the president was also acquainted with Epstein. After Maxwell’s arrest in 2020, Trump drew criticism for saying, “I just wish her well, frankly.”
The US president has denied any wrongdoing connected to Epstein and says he ended his relationship with the financier years before his 2019 arrest. Maxwell later told Justice Department officials that she had never witnessed Trump behaving inappropriately.
