There’s something fishy about President Donald Trump’s Justice Department setting up multiple meetings with convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, according to two lawyers.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has met with Maxwell and her lawyer over the last couple of days. The meetings have led some to speculate that Trump may be dangling a pardon for Maxwell in exchange for favorable testimony from her. The president seemingly confirmed those rumors on Friday when he said he is allowed to pardon her.
This setup has set off alarm bells for lawyers like Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who worked as an assistant U.S. attorney for six years, and Ben Meiselas, who practices criminal law at the California-based law firm Geragos and Geragos.
“Clearly, this errand that Todd Blanche, the number-two at the Justice Department, is going on now is in his capacity as Trump’s defense attorney,” Schiff said in a recent interview. “He wants to know what this convicted child sex trafficker has to say about Donald Trump. And, certainly, she wants a pardon.”
“This whole thing stinks to high Heaven,” Schiff continued.
Meiselas added that the Trump administration’s explanation for reaching out to Maxwell also lacks credibility. Trump has claimed that his administration is simply reaching out to Maxwell to make contact. However, the Trump administration successfully prosecuted Maxwell in 2019, a prosecution that the since-fired prosecutor Maurene Comey led.
Comey is the daughter of former F.B.I. Director James Comey, whom Trump has sought to portray as someone who created the “hoax” surrounding Jeffrey Epstein and Maxwell, Meiselas added.
“[Trump] is kind of giving Ghislaine a golden ticket for a retrial,” Meiselas said.