{"id":312168,"date":"2025-08-02T14:49:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T14:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/312168\/"},"modified":"2025-08-02T14:49:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T14:49:10","slug":"ghislaine-maxwell-could-talking-about-epstein-be-her-get-out-of-jail-free-card-ghislaine-maxwell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/312168\/","title":{"rendered":"Ghislaine Maxwell: could talking about Epstein be her get out of jail free card? | Ghislaine Maxwell"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since Ghislaine Maxwell<\/a> met with federal prosecutors last week, the imprisoned British socialite\u2019s legal team has portrayed her as a beacon of truth willing to discuss all matters related to her child sex-trafficking co-conspirator Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s many crimes. <\/p>\n

\u201cGhislaine answered every single question asked of her over the last day and a half. She answered those questions honestly, truthfully, to the best of her ability,\u201d attorney David Oscar Markus told reporters. \u201cShe never invoked a privilege. She never refused to answer a question.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maxwell\u2019s highly unusual two-day sit-down with the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche \u2013 who served as Donald Trump\u2019s criminal defense attorney before working for his justice department \u2013 came as the US president tiptoes through a political minefield related to Epstein and his own social links to the disgraced former financier.<\/p>\n

But Blanche\u2019s meeting \u2013 held amid rumors and denials of a pardon for Maxwell shortly before her sudden move on Friday to a Texas prison \u2013 did not just show Trump\u2019s flagging efforts at damage control over the Epstein scandal. Maxwell is simultaneously pursuing several other strategies to be freed from her 20-year federal prison sentence.<\/p>\n

And, some experts believe, Maxwell\u2019s ultimate aim is probably not really revealing the whole truth and everything she knows about Epstein, Trump and other powerful figures. Instead, it is all about earning her freedom.<\/p>\n

Maxwell\u2019s team is pushing <\/a>the US supreme court to consider her appeal, which contends that she was shielded from prosecution in Epstein\u2019s controversial 2007 plea agreement \u2013 an argument that has been opposed by the same justice department that has now met with her.<\/p>\n

Maxwell is also trying to make the most of a congressional subpoena, threatening to invoke her fifth amendment right against self-incrimination unless she is given immunity. Her legal team has also suggested clemency \u2013 which Trump could grant immediately.<\/p>\n

This broad-spectrum approach, which several longtime defense attorneys said represented sound legal strategy, has prompted skepticism about whether any discussions reflect an actual desire to reveal truth. More, Maxwell\u2019s track record of alleged<\/a> lying undermines whatever truths Trump officials claim they want to reveal in highly publicized meetings.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I were representing her, I would be doing exactly the same thing. The supreme court petition has virtually no chance of success. The issues raised are not novel or of general relevance to other cases,\u201d said Ron Kuby, a longtime defense attorney whose practice focuses on civil rights.<\/p>\n

Kuby told the Guardian that the supreme court agrees to take on \u201conly the smallest fraction\u201d of petitions. \u201cFiling a supreme court petition is akin to playing the lotto, you can\u2019t win unless you play, but your likelihood of winning is slim, so it\u2019s a last-ditch effort that defendants use when they have enough money for full due process.\u201d<\/p>\n

The parallel strategy of actively pursuing clemency with the Trump administration is sound because Trump could commute her sentence or issue a pardon, Kuby said. \u201cBecause these are all federal convictions, he can let her out of jail tomorrow,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

As for why Maxwell would seem willing to shed light on Epstein despite a low likelihood of a positive outcome, \u201cshe has nothing to lose.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe question isn\u2019t \u2018why would she meet with them\u2019? She\u2019ll do anything for people who can help with this,\u201d Kuby said.<\/p>\n

Eric Faddis, a trial attorney and founding partner of the Colorado firm Varner Faddis, voiced similar sentiments about Maxwell\u2019s strategy.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor anyone who\u2019s been sentenced to 20 years in prison, it would behoove them to explore all potential avenues to try and better their legal position, and it looks like that\u2019s what Maxwell is doing here,\u201d Faddis said.<\/p>\n

Other legal experts agree.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaxwell\u2019s attorneys are doing everything they can to keep her out of prison,\u201d said John Day, a former prosecutor in New Mexico who founded the John Day Law Office<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Epstein controversy swirling around Trump may prove an excellent opportunity that few could have foreseen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a moment in time that wasn\u2019t there before, where she suddenly has an opening to try to get a change in her situation,\u201d Day said. \u201cUp until the Epstein case resurfaced and the Epstein-Trump issues came to the forefront of people\u2019s attention, Maxwell was just doing her time.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuddenly, she is trying to make the case that she has information, and she has information that\u2019s worth trading for, and she\u2019s hoping, her lawyers are hoping, that somehow someone is going to decide that it\u2019s worth giving her a break.\u201d<\/p>\n

Should Maxwell receive any favorable outcome, it might do little to promote truth and much to foment uncertainty.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there is some kind of a deal that came out of the nine hours that Todd Blanche met with her, then any information that comes out of that is always going to be seen in the context of \u2018what was the deal?\u2019\u201d Day said.<\/p>\n

Indeed, Trump\u2019s handling of the Epstein files has done little but sow doubt. The Trump justice department released a memo insisting there was no Epstein client list, and decided not to release extensive case files, despite his campaign promise to do so.<\/p>\n

This backtracking on releasing documents helped fan the flames of controversy<\/a> that came after the publication of a Wall Street Journal article <\/a>claiming that Trump contributed a \u201cbawdy\u201d letter to a birthday present for Epstein \u2013 compiled by Maxwell.<\/p>\n

Shortly after the story ran, Trump announced<\/a> that he had directed his justice department to request the unsealing of grand jury transcripts in Epstein and Maxwell\u2019s criminal cases.<\/p>\n

This purported push for transparency, vis-a-vis Bondi\u2019s request for unsealing, does not appear to have quelled backlash against Trump. The Wall Street Journal on 23 July reported<\/a> that Bondi told Trump his name appeared in the Epstein files on multiple occasions.<\/p>\n

Epstein, whom prosecutors stated abused girls as young as 14, had long enjoyed the company of numerous high-profile men in his circle \u2013 among them Trump and Britain\u2019s Prince Andrew. Epstein killed himself in jail awaiting trial six years ago.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s camp has insisted that a pardon is not in the works, with a senior administration official saying: \u201cNo leniency is being given or discussed. That\u2019s just false. The president himself has said that clemency for Maxwell is not something he is even thinking about at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

But at other times, Trump\u2019s comments on the issue have raised eyebrows, with him saying: <\/a>\u201cI\u2019m allowed to do it, but it\u2019s something I have not thought about.\u201d He has also remarked<\/a>: \u201cWell, I\u2019m allowed to give her a pardon, but nobody\u2019s approached me with it. Nobody\u2019s asked me about it\u201d and that \u201cRight now, it would be inappropriate to talk about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Top congressional Republicans are toeing the line<\/a> when it comes to the idea of potential presidential relief, including the House speaker, Mike Johnson. \u201cWell, I mean, obviously that\u2019s a decision of the president,\u201d Johnson said on Sunday on NBC\u2019s Meet the Press. \u201cI won\u2019t get in front of him. That\u2019s not my lane.\u201d<\/p>\n

The political benefit for Trump from a pardon \u2013 however unlikely \u2013 remains nearly nil, as it would do little to support his prior claims about wanting the truth revealed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe giant problem here \u2013 although what we have seen is that people are capable of believing all kinds of things if Trump says they are true \u2013 I don\u2019t think there\u2019s anything that Ghislaine Maxwell can say that will put any of this to rest,\u201d Kuby said. \u201cCertainly, the optics of giving an actual convicted child [abuser] clemency does not easily align with the right wing\u2019s purported concern about child abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since Ghislaine Maxwell met with federal prosecutors last week, the imprisoned British socialite\u2019s legal team has portrayed her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312169,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-312168","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114959729527937681","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}