'Outrageous': Push in Congress for Ghislaine Maxwell to be pardoned
There is a growing number of US members of Congress pushing for sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell to be pardoned, a top Republican has said.
House Oversight Committee chair James Comer was asked if it would be worthwhile to offer Maxwell a pardon in exchange for her testimony.
"A lot of people do," Comer told Politico.
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James Comer said members he serve with want to see Ghislaine Maxwell pardoned. AP
"My committee's split on that. I don't speak for my committee."
He pointed out that he was not in support of a pardon.
While Maxwell was heavily involved in sex crimes, it is believed her testimony would expose other pedophiles connected to her partner Jeffrey Epstein.
Comer's Democratic counterpart Robert Garcia issued a statement decrying the idea.
"It's outrageous that Republicans on the Oversight Committee are considering a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell," he said.
"She is a sexual abuser who facilitated the rape of women and children.
He said a pardon would be a "shameful way to treat survivors".
"Oversight Democrats are united in opposing any pardon," he said.
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Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were long time friends. US Department of Justice
Maxwell refused to testify during her deposition in February.
Garcia pointed out in his statement that after speaking to Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, now the acting Attorney-General, Maxwell was moved to a "cushy minimum-security women's prison".
Her lawyer has stated that Maxwell will testify if she is granted clemency from Trump.
Maxwell and Trump were long-time friends.
She is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking as well as conspiring with Epstein to abuse underage girls.
Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna dismissed the prospect of Maxwell getting out of prison.
"She's not getting a pardon," she said.
"The votes aren't there for that."
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Ghislaine Maxwell and Donald Trump at a party in 1997. Getty
But a vote in Congress would be ultimately meaningless on the issue. Congress does not have the power to issue pardons.
The role is solely in the hands of the president, who has the power to pardon anyone convicted of a federal crime at will.
In October last year Donald Trump said he would "take a look at" pardoning Maxwell.
Were he to do so, there would be no way for Congress to stop him.
Her lawyer told Congress she would exonerate Trump in the Epstein investigation if she were freed from prison.
Donald Trump with billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2000, with their respective partners Melania Knauss (now Trump) and Ghislaine Maxwell at the president's Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. Getty
The Trump administration has come under fire after only releasing a fraction of the files connected with the Department of Justice's investigation of Epstein.
Under a law passed earlier, they are required to release every file.
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