President Donald Trump on Monday said it would be “inappropriate” to discuss the possibility of a pardon for Jeffrey Epstein’s former associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
Maxwell, also the former girlfriend of the late disgraced financier, and her attorney met with Justice Department officials two days last week.
It was reported Maxwell was given limited immunity by DOJ to talk freely with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
While answering reporters’ questions Monday during a media session with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump was asked whether he ruled out a pardon for Maxwell.
“Well, I’m allowed to give her a pardon, but nobody’s approached me with it,” Trump said. “Nobody’s asked me about it. It’s in the news about that, that aspect of it. But right now it would be inappropriate to talk about it.”
The president later was asked whether he asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to tell him if his name appeared in Epstein’s files.
“Well, I haven’t been overly interested in it,” Trump said. “You know, it’s something, it’s a hoax that’s been built up way beyond proportion. I can say this. Those files were run by the worst scum on Earth. They were run by [former FBI Director James] Comey. They were run by [former Attorney General Merrick] Garland. They were run by [former President Joe] Biden. And all of the people that actually ran the government, including the autopen.
“Those files were run for four years by those people. If they had anything, I assume they would have released it. The whole thing is a hoax. They ran the files. I was running against somebody that ran the files. If they had something, they would have released [them].”
As the political firestorm surrounding child sex offender Epstein reignites, a recent report by The Washington Post finds that there is “no public evidence of any wrongdoing on Trump’s part.”
Trump said the latest reports about Epstein’s activities have improved the president’s poll numbers.
“Do you know that my poll numbers are up four and a half points since this ridiculous, obscene stuff, my poll numbers have gone up four and a half points because people don’t buy it, OK?” he said. “People don’t buy it. And he’s gone. And we want to focus on trade deals. I want to focus on the deal we just made with the European Union, which is the biggest trade deal in history.”
Trump’s approval rating has inched higher, according to two polls released Thursday.
Rasmussen Reports, one of the more accurate polls for the 2024 election, has Trump up 50% with a 48% disapproval rating while RMG Research has the president at 52% approval, 48% disapproval.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
