No Pardon for Maxwell? Todd Blanche Faces Senate Questions Over Epstein Justice (5/21/26)

Todd Blanche, the acting U.S. attorney general, told lawmakers during a Senate appropriations hearing that he would not recommend a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime associate who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex-trafficking crimes. The statement came after Sen. Chris Van Hollen pressed Blanche to commit that DOJ would not support clemency for Maxwell, whose lawyer previously told congressional investigators she would only cooperate if granted clemency. The exchange matters because Maxwell has already exhausted major appellate avenues, including a failed Supreme Court petition, while political speculation has continued around whether she might be offered some form of relief in exchange for testimony about Epstein’s network.

The hearing also reopened broader questions about DOJ’s handling of Maxwell, Epstein records, and survivors. Blanche denied that Trump personally sent him to interview Maxwell last year and said he did not know whether she was receiving better treatment after her transfer from a low-security prison in Florida to a minimum-security camp in Texas, a move experts described as highly unusual. Van Hollen also challenged Blanche over whether DOJ had directly met with Epstein survivors, with Blanche insisting he had met with survivors or their lawyers, while a group of 17 survivors later released a statement saying he had not met with any of them. Their response cut to the core of the controversy: survivors are not just demanding more documents, they are demanding direct answers from the department responsible for years of secrecy, redactions, withholding, and failure around the Epstein case.


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Todd Blanche says he would not recommend a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell | Ghislaine Maxwell | The Guardian