EXCLUSIVE Trump lawyer Alan Dershowitz urges President to pardon Epstein enabler Ghislaine Maxwell next
The controversial lawyer, who once defended both Trump and the late pedophile, told DailyMail.com the disgraced socialite's 'excessive' 20-year sentence should be commuted for her immediate release – with a full pardon possibly following.
The former Harvard Law School professor has spoken out in the wake of the surprise pardons for TV reality couple Todd and Julie Chrisley, who were convicted of federal bank fraud and tax evasion charges in 2022.
His remarks also come after DailyMail.com exclusively revealed that speculation is swirling over a possible pardon for Maxwell - who is doing time in a federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida - due to her past ties to Trump.
One ultra-close source to the Maxwell family told us last week: 'It's not a bad idea to ask President Trump for a pardon. He knew her. He's probably got views about whether she's guilty or innocent.'
Now, 86-year-old Dershowitz – who was on Trump's legal team fighting the 2020 impeachment charges – says: 'Certainly she should get a commutation. The sentence was way, way, way in excess of anything she was alleged to have done.
'She was in part a victim of Epstein. The fact that Epstein died made her a primary target and caused an excessive sentence to her. Some executive clemency is very much warranted in her case.'
Maxwell's freedom-campaigning brothers Ian, 69, and Kevin, 66, have not so far petitioned for a pardon or commutation, the family source told us. But they have not ruled out the possibility.
If they want to makes those appeals, Dershowitz said petitions should be sent to the White House Counsel's office and the Department of Justice.
'And they should sent them to both places,' he emphasized. 'I believe there will be a lot of people who would support some executive clemency for her.'
Maxwell, 63, was handed her sentence in 2022 after a lengthy New York trial. She was convicted of five counts relating to sex-trafficking for helping multi-millionaire financier Epstein abuse under-age girls around the world.
She was immediately whisked to her low-security prison, where DailyMail.com has exclusively photographed her pounding around the facility's running track.
The British socialite former pal of Prince Andrew lost her appeal in 2024 and in April this year her legal team filed a petition to the US Supreme Court. It claims she was covered by a 2007 non-prosecution agreement for any Epstein co-conspirator.
Epstein, who operated his sickening trafficking empire from his Manhattan townhouse, Palm Beach mansion in Florida and private island in the Virgin Islands, killed himself in jail in 2019 to avoid facing justice.
His death meant Maxwell then became the prime focus for his crimes, Dershowitz asserts.
'People do realize that she has become the scapegoat for Epstein himself... that had Epstein been alive he would have been the centerpiece of the prosecution,' he says.
'And she would have been relegated to a relatively minor role. But now she's the only one left. And so she's gotten to play center stage and that resulted in a way excessive sentence.'
Maxwell and the current Commander-in-Chief were famously photographed together at high society events in Manhattan and his 'Winter White House' Mar-a-Lago compound in Palm Beach in her heyday.
Regarding any appeal for total clemency, Dershowitz says: 'I think that's up to the president whether it should be a commutation or a pardon.
'But I think the first step should be a commutation and a release from prison. Then there could be consideration of a full pardon later.
'Otherwise there's a risk. She could die in prison. She's not a young woman and she's not in the best of health, she's under terrible circumstances.
'A commutation would be the right first step, then there could be consideration of a full pardon later.'
Dershowitz was on Epstein's legal team when the pedophile served a cushy 13 months in Palm Beach County jail for soliciting minors for prostitution in a sweetheart deal that allowed him to leave daily for 'work release'.
The heavyweight lawyer was also on the team that successfully defended OJ Simpson in his 1995 murder trial over the killing of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.
Todd Chrisley addressed the media for the first time since his release during a news conference last Friday in Nashville, Tennessee
He met Maxwell 'half a dozen times, I wouldn't say we were friends, we were acquaintances' during the time he was representing Epstein in Florida.
TV couple the Chrisleys were released from prison on May 28 following Trump's full pardon over their 2022 conviction for a $30million bank fraud and tax evasion.
Their release came after 27-year-old daughter Savannah's passionate Fox TV interview with the president's daughter-in-law Lara Trump.
President Trump told MAGA-supporter Savannah her parents 'don't look like terrorists' and privately conveyed he thought they'd been treated unfairly.
In Maxwell's case, any thought of unfairness remains overshadowed by Epstein's hideous crimes.
Adding to the complexity is the historic Trump connection to both of them.
The Commander in Chief innocently rubbed shoulders with Epstein on the social circuit in Palm Beach and Manhattan in the 1990s and early 2000s.
He was photographed with him and one video from 1992 shows them sharing a joke as women danced at the Mar-a-Lago estate.
Speculation is now swirling over whether President Trump could potentially pardon another infamous inmate from his social orbit, Ghislaine Maxwell
President Trump told New York magazine in 2002: 'I've known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy.
'He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.'
However after Epstein's dramatic 2019 arrest at Teterboro Airport, New Jersey following a trip to Paris, Trump said at the White House: 'People in Palm Beach knew him, he was a fixture in Palm Beach.
'I had a falling out with him a long time ago. I don't think I've spoken to him for 15 years. I wasn't a fan.'
He emphasized he had no idea of Epstein's crimes before his arrest.
President Trump and Maxwell were also photographed together as they socialized at events. First Lady Melania appears in at least three shots with them before her 2005 marriage.
The most bizarre was taken at supermodel Heidi Klum's 'hookers and pimps' themed Halloween party in October 2000.
It shows President Trump with his arms around a smiling Melania and Maxwell, who is dressed in a bleach blonde wig, leopard print jacket and gold leather pants. Prince Andrew was also at the event.
Earlier that year, blue-suited Trump, Melania, casually-dressed Epstein and Maxwell – sporting a bare midriff and back in a blue top with gold tassels – posed for the camera at a Mar-a-Lago event.
And in September 2000, Melania, Trump and Maxwell were snapped together at Anand Jon's fashion show in New York City.
Two years later the current President and First Lady were photographed with Maxwell and British supermodel Naomi Campbell at the opening of the Dolce & Gabbana fashion house.
Maxwell vanished after Epstein was arrested but was eventually seized in a dramatic FBI raid on her secluded hideaway in a deeply rural part of New Hampshire.
Following the swoop, President Trump said of her: 'I met her numerous times over the years, especially since I live in Palm Beach, and I guess they lived in Palm Beach. But I wish her well, whatever it is.'
Maxwell was a fixture at Epstein's notorious private island of Little St. James in the US Virgin Islands, where he helicoptered in under-age girls to sexually abuse in a years-long reign of vile crimes.
She was also a regular on his private Boeing 727 jet, dubbed the Lolita Express, which carried Andrew and former President Bill Clinton among a host of other names, according to flight logs.
Crucially she acted as a 'madame' for Epstein, recruiting vulnerable young girls from the West Palm Beach area to give Epstein 'massages' at his $20million mansion in ritzy Palm Beach. There, he would abuse them.
One was tragic Virginia Giuffre, who was working as a locker room attendant at Mar-a-Lago when she said Maxwell approached her in the mid 2000s.
She said it led to years of harrowing abuse where she claimed she was 'passed around like a platter of fruit' to Epstein's powerful associates.
Giuffre, known as Roberts at the time, alleged one was Prince Andrew – famously photographed with his arm around her in Maxwell's London home with the socialite in the background.
The royal has consistently denied her accusations, although did pay her a reported payout of up to $16million in 2022.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Channel 4
a minute ago
- Channel 4
US special envoy Steve Witkoff visits Gaza aid ‘death traps'
Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff has been taken to see one of the US and Israeli-backed GHF food distribution sites in the Gazan city of Rafah – saying he had spent more than five hours in the territory to 'help craft a plan' to deliver food and medical supplies. The GHF sites have become death traps for hundreds of people who've been killed trying to get near the food – with reports of another 13 people killed today. Before being briefed by Mr Witkoff President Trump – said he wanted to 'get people fed', and echoed Israeli claims that Hamas steal and sell the aid.
Channel 4
a minute ago
- Channel 4
Global markets fall as new wave of Trump tariffs hit 90 countries
Stock markets have fallen around the world after Donald Trump announced his new wave of tariffs – while top Democrats pointed to weak job figures as a sign that Mr Trump's trade war was 'bleeding the economy'. The new levies affect some of the world's poorest countries, as well as raising fears of inflation and price rises in the United States.
The Independent
a minute ago
- The Independent
Corporation for Public Broadcasting to shut down after being defunded by Congress, targeted by Trump
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a cornerstone of American culture for three generations, announced Friday it would take steps toward its own closure after being defunded by Congress — marking the end of a nearly six-decade era in which it fueled the production of renowned educational programming, cultural content and even emergency alerts. The demise of the corporation, known as CPB, is a direct result of President Donald Trump 's targeting of public media, which he has repeatedly said is spreading political and cultural views antithetical to those the United States should be espousing. The closure is expected to have a profound impact on the journalistic and cultural landscape — in particular, public radio and TV stations in small communities across the United States. CPB helps fund both PBS and NPR. The corporation also has deep ties to much of the nation's most familiar programming, from NPR's 'All Things Considered' to, historically, 'Sesame Street,' 'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood' and the documentaries of Ken Burns. The corporation said its end, 58 years after being signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, would come in an 'orderly wind-down.' In a statement, it said the decision came after the passage of a package that included defunding and the decision Thursday by the Senate Appropriations Committee to exclude funding for the corporation for the first time in over 50 years. The corporation had hoped that the new budget might restore its funding, but that did not happen. 'Despite the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans who called, wrote, and petitioned Congress to preserve federal funding for CPB, we now face the difficult reality of closing our operations,' said Patricia Harrison, the corporation's president and CEO. The closure will come in phases CPB said it informed employees Friday that most staff positions will end with the fiscal year on Sept. 30. It said a small transition team will stay in place until January to finish any remaining work — including, it said, 'ensuring continuity for music rights and royalties that remain essential to the public media system.: 'Public media has been one of the most trusted institutions in American life, providing educational opportunity, emergency alerts, civil discourse, and cultural connection to every corner of the country,' Harrison said. 'We are deeply grateful to our partners across the system for their resilience, leadership, and unwavering dedication to serving the American people.' NPR stations use millions of dollars in federal money to pay music licensing fees. Now, many will have to renegotiate these deals. That could impact, in particular, outlets that build their programming around music discovery. NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher estimated recently, for example, that some 96% of all classical music broadcast in the United States is on public radio stations. Federal money for public radio and television has traditionally been appropriated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes it to NPR and PBS. Roughly 70% of the money goes directly to the 330 PBS and 246 NPR stations across the country, although that's only a shorthand way to describe its potential impact. Trump, who has called the CPB a 'monstrosity,' has long said that public broadcasting displays an extreme liberal bias, helped create the momentum in recent months for an anti-public broadcasting groundswell among his supporters in Congress and around the country. It is part of a larger initiative in which he has targeted institutions — particularly cultural ones — that produce content or espouse attitudes that he considers 'un-American.' The CPB's demise represents a political victory for those efforts. His impact on the media landscape has been profound. He has also gone after U.S. government media that had independence charters, including the venerable Voice of America, ending that media outlet's operations after many decades. Trump also fired three members of the corporation's board of directors in April. In legal action at the time, the fired directors said their dismissal was governmental overreach targeting an entity whose charter guarantees it independence.
