Trump says he's 'allowed' to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell and he never went to Epstein's island
Trump made the remarks, which appear to be some of his most extensive to date on Maxwell, during questioning by reporters on July 28 at his Trump Turnberry golf club in Scotland while meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
A reporter asked Trump whether he would 'ever consider' a pardon for Maxwell, who met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche for two days last week to answer questions about Epstein. Critics have said the meetings with Blanche, Trump's former personal defense lawyer, were part of a White House effort to quell the backlash over the administration's handling of thousands of Epstein-related files in its possession.
'Well, I'm allowed to give her a pardon, but nobody's approached me with it. Nobody's asked me about it,' Trump said. 'It's in the news about that, that aspect of it, but right now, it would be inappropriate to talk about it.'
Trump on July 28 also hit back at a question about whether his attorney general, Pam Bondi, has told him his name is mentioned in the federal government's Epstein files, as the Wall Street Journal reported last week.
'I haven't been overly interested in it,' Trump said. 'It's a hoax that's been built up way beyond proportion.'
Trump then suggested without evidence that former President Joe Biden, then-Vice President Kamala Harris, FBI Director James Comey and Attorney General Merrick Garland could have put fake and incriminating material about him into the files.
'I can say this. Those files were run by the worst scum on Earth. They were run by Comey, they were run by Garland, they were run by Biden and all of the people that actually ran the government, including the autopen' during the Biden administration, Trump said. 'Those files were run for four years by those people. If they had anything (on Trump), I assume they would have released it.'
The president dismissed another Wall Street Journal report that said he drew a picture of a nude woman decades ago as part of a lewd birthday letter for Epstein when they were close friends. It was part of a book compiled by Maxwell that included contributions from other high-profile people including former President Bill Clinton, the Journal reported.
'In one of my very good moments, I turned it down'
Trump in Scotland also categorically denied that he'd ever been to Epstein's Caribbean island where sex trafficking of young girls allegedly occurred.
'I never had the privilege of going to his island, and I did turn it down, but a lot of people in Palm Beach were invited to his island," Trump said. 'In one of my very good moments, I turned it down. I didn't want to go to his island.'
Trump also offered an explanation for why he broke off his friendship with Epstein after the two were close friends for many years.
'I wouldn't talk to Jeffrey Epstein because he did something that was inappropriate. … He stole people that worked for me. I said, 'Don't ever do that again.' He did it again, and I threw him out of the place,' Trump said, in reference to his Mar-a-Lago club and residence.
'Persona non grata,' Trump added.
'We haven't spoken to the president,' Maxwell's lawyer says
Trump's comments three days after Maxwell's lawyer said July 25 that he is hoping Trump pardons the former British socialite for sex trafficking crimes she was convicted of in connection with the disgraced financier, who died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on related charges.
David Markus spoke to reporters after his client's second day of interviews with Blanche in Tallahassee, Florida, near where Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence for trafficking a minor to Epstein for sexual abuse.
Asked about Trump's comments earlier in the day about a potential pardon, Markus told reporters, "We haven't spoken to the president or anybody about a pardon just yet.'
But, Markus said, 'The president this morning said he had the power to do so. We hope he exercises that power in the right and just way."
When Trump was asked last week if he had already considered pardoning Maxwell, he said no.
"I'm allowed to do it, but it's something I have not thought about," Trump told reporters. "I certainly can't talk about pardons now."
Maxwell's meetings with Blanche, the No. 2 official in the Justice Department, came amid calls from the public and a bipartisan group of lawmakers for DOJ to release more information it has in its possession about Epstein's clients.
The public outcry was prompted by announcements by the Justice Department and FBI earlier this month that they won't be releasing their Epstein-related files, despite promising to do so.
Pressure has mounted since then for the administration to reconsider, including from members of Trump's own base who were bitterly disappointed by the announcement.
That was especially the case after the Wall Street Journal report that Bondi notified Trump in May that his name had appeared 'multiple times' in the files. The president sued the newspaper for defamation for reporting that he wrote the birthday message for Epstein.
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