Resurfaced memo threatens to blow up Trump’s Epstein scramble

A resurfaced memo from the Justice Department may compromise President Donald Trump’s latest ploy to save face amid growing scrutiny into his past ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

Trump is currently facing a firestorm – largely of his own making – over his past ties with Epstein, who died in 2019 awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges and his subsequent stonewalling on releasing files on the disgraced financier.

In an effort to quash outrage from his most loyal supporters, Trump has moved to unseal grand jury testimony related to Epstein – a move that has already been denied by the courts – and has directed Justice Department officials to meet with Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking victims for Epstein.

Trump has not ruled out pardoning Maxwell, with some experts theorizing that the president may order her release in exchange for damaging information on political opponents such as former President Bill Clinton who, like Trump, also had close ties with Epstein.

However, a 2022 sentencing memo from the DOJ may have already poured cold water on that idea. In it, officials suggested that any testimony from Maxwell couldn’t be trusted.

“If anything stands out from the defendant’s sentencing submission, it is her complete failure to address her offense conduct and her utter lack of remorse,” the memo reads.

“Instead of showing even a hint of acceptance of responsibility, the defendant makes a desperate attempt to cast blame wherever else she can.”

Comments from several high-profile Republicans on Maxwell may also compromise Trump’s potential plan to pardon Maxwell as a way out of what some have described as a “MAGA revolt.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson said over the weekend that he believed Maxwell’s 20-year sentence was “a pittance,” and that she should instead be serving a life sentence, “at least,” The Daily Beast reported. Alyssa Griffin, a former Trump White House aide, said “there’s a special place in hell for women who would help men abuse younger women,” speaking with CNN.

And former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger suggested that pardoning Maxwell would be impossible for Trump to spin to his base as anything less than an effort to conceal culpability as it relates to Epstein.

“She knows about Trump – and if Trump pardons her, she won’t talk,” Kinzinger said, The Daily Beast reported. “How are you going to spin this one? Do we care about child sex trafficking or don’t we? Answer that, guys.”

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