Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), in his capacity as ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, is urging President Donald Trump to refrain from granting “any form of clemency” to Jeffrey Epstein’s convicted coconspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.
In a letter dated Sunday, Raskin cited whistleblower information that indicated Maxwell is planning to ask the president to commute her 20-year federal sentence. However, he noted that specific details of the “commutation application” remained unclear.
The top Democrat said the possible commutation request demonstrates “either that Ms. Maxwell is herself requesting you release her from her 20-year prison sentence for her role as a co-conspirator in Jeffrey Epstein’s international child sex trafficking ring, or that this child sex predator now holds such tremendous sway in the second Trump Administration that you and your DOJ will follow her clemency recommendations,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by the Washington Examiner.
Maxwell is expected to be released from prison by July 2037 unless she is granted some form of clemency before then. She was previously convicted of conspiring to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, among other counts, as part of Epstein’s child sex trafficking ring.
Raskin is concerned that Trump has declined to rule out a pardon for Maxwell, with whom the president used to be acquainted when he knew Epstein over two decades ago.
When asked about a Maxwell pardon last month, Trump answered, “You know, I haven’t heard the name in so long. I can say that I’d have to take a look at it. I would have to take a look.”
He added, “I will speak to the DOJ. I wouldn’t consider it or not consider — I don’t know anything about it.”
In the letter, Raskin followed up on whether Trump has spoken with the Department of Justice about granting a commutation or any other type of clemency to Maxwell.
After Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche interviewed Maxwell over the course of two days in July, she was transferred from a federal prison in Florida to a lower-security prison in Texas. Reports have since emerged of Maxwell’s preferential treatment under the warden at the new prison.
Among her “luxuries and amenities” that Raskin cited are being allowed to pet a puppy that’s being trained as a service dog and receiving customized meals delivered directly to her cell.
Raskin said the luxurious service has become so “preposterous” that it’s prompted one of the Federal Bureau of Prisons employees to complain that he’s “sick of having to be Maxwell’s b****.” He wonders whether Trump directed Blanche or anyone else in his administration to provide Maxwell’s prison transfer or grant her favorable accommodations.
“In light of these shocking revelations, I write to demand that you make your former personal attorney and now Deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanche, available for a public hearing immediately with our Committee to answer for this corrupt misuse of law enforcement resources and potential exchange of favors for false testimony exonerating you and other Epstein accomplices,” the letter reads.
The ranking member requested that Blanche contact his House Judiciary Committee staff to set up a public hearing by Nov. 17. Trump was also asked to provide answers by Nov. 24, including whether Maxwell has promised anything to Trump or his attorneys.
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“You should not grant any form of clemency to this convicted and unrepentant sex offender,” Raskin wrote to Trump. “Your Administration should not be providing her with room service, with puppies to play with, with federal law enforcement officials waiting on her every need, or with any special treatment or institutional privilege at all.”
“It is indisputable that the order to treat Ms. Maxwell as an honored guest, rather than a federal prisoner, has come from the highest levels,” the congressman added, “although you could reassure America, today, by telling us that Ms. Maxwell’s treatment has been orchestrated by a renegade faction within the Bureau of Prisons, and you are ordering an investigation.”