On Friday, President Donald Trump’s administration green-lit the transfer of convicted child trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell (pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s chief co-conspirator) from her Tallahassee, Florida prison to a minimum security facility in Bryan, Texas. One of the women Epstein preyed on is condemning the move and lamenting a potential pardon.
Former CNN host Jim Acosta — who now hosts a show on the Substack platform — interviewed Epstein survivor Jess Michaels on his latest episode, where the two discussed Maxwell’s move and its possible implications. Michaels said that if Maxwell were indeed given clemency by the Trump administration, it would represent the “ultimate betrayal” of survivors and would be “a turning point we can never recover from.” She further argued that offering a sweetheart deal to Maxwell would demonstrate to the American public that the administration “cares more about a convicted pedophile sex trafficker of minors than about victims of sexual harm.”
“[Clemency would be] another layer of betrayal and isolation and stigma that gets laid on the survivors,” Michaels said. “It deepens the wound and throws a bunch of toxic bacteria on it so it just gets worse and worse and worse.”
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Acosta reminded viewers that Maxwell spoke with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche for two days in Florida (where she reportedly gave up information on roughly 100 people), which sparked conversation that a pardon or commutation may soon follow for Maxwell despite her just being a handful of years into her 20-year prison sentence. Michaels — who said Epstein assaulted her in 1991 when she was 22 years old — argued that the administration was exhibiting “negligence” to all victims and survivors who speak out against predators.
“The negligence is beyond just this not releasing of the files,” Michaels said. “The negligence has actually gone on for three decades. so the cover-up is huge.”
Michaels further posited that survivors of trafficking and abuse would feel less confident in coming forward if the government let Maxwell walk free. And she observed that the act of reporting assault is already “unsafe,” and is treated not as an “injury” by law enforcement but as an “interrogation.” And Michaels concluded her interview with Acosta by asking how safe Americans would feel if a known serial child predator lived nearby.
‘”Who would want Ghislaine Maxwell in their neighborhood?” Michaels asked.
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