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Pence sent letter to Jan. 6 defendant who refused Trump pardon
Pence sent letter to Jan. 6 defendant who refused Trump pardon

Yahoo

time26-06-2025

  • Politics
  • Yahoo

Pence sent letter to Jan. 6 defendant who refused Trump pardon

Former Vice President Pence earlier this month wrote a letter to a former Jan. 6 defendant who refused President Trump's pardon, expressing 'admiration' for her decision to reject the clemency and accept responsibility for her actions. The letter was sent to Pam Hemphill, a former Jan. 6 defendant who pleaded guilty in 2022 to one misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing at the Capitol building. She was sentenced to 60 days in prison, which she served, and three years of probation. When Trump issued sweeping pardons to nearly all Capitol riot defendants upon returning to the White House, Hemphill publicly declined hers. She told the BBC at the time that Trump's supporters were 'wrong' for storming the Capitol and to accept a pardon would 'only insult the Capitol Police officers, rule of law and, of course, our nation.' 'Your honorable decision speaks volumes about your commitment to the Rule of Law and I wanted to pass along my genuine respect,' Pence's letter reads. 'I am certain that your willingness to accept responsibility has inspired many Americans by your example of integrity and faith.' A spokesperson for Pence confirmed the letter's authenticity. In a post to the social media platform X, Hemphill expressed gratitude for the former vice president's words. 'It's been a long and hard journey, but this letter I received today has made every heartache, smear campaign and sleepless night more than worth it!' she said Wednesday. In a statement to The Hill, she said that speaking out against Trump's 'gaslighting and narcissism' could help others 'leave his dangerous MAGA cult,' calling it part of her 'amends' to the nation. On Jan. 6, 2021, the mob of demonstrators turned their ire toward Pence, who refused to certify slates of alternate electors so that Trump could remain in power. That day, he was hurried off the Senate floor, where he was presiding over the joint session to certify the 2020 presidential election results, and was taken to an underground loading dock where he waited with his wife and daughter for hours. Meanwhile, rioters stormed the Capitol, as some chanted, 'Hang Mike Pence.' Pence has repeatedly denounced Trump's actions that day and defended his own decision to certify the results of the election, which former President Biden won. Hemphill said that the nation will 'forever be grateful' for Pence's actions that day. 'Mike Pence put his life on the line that day, as we know the rioters were calling for his death!' she said. Trump's pardons covered more than 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants charged in connection with the riot. He also commuted the sentences of extremist group leaders of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys. Updated at 6:02 p.m. EDT Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

EXCLUSIVE Trump lawyer Alan Dershowitz urges President to pardon Epstein enabler Ghislaine Maxwell next
EXCLUSIVE Trump lawyer Alan Dershowitz urges President to pardon Epstein enabler Ghislaine Maxwell next

Daily Mail​

time06-06-2025

  • Politics
  • Daily Mail​

EXCLUSIVE Trump lawyer Alan Dershowitz urges President to pardon Epstein enabler Ghislaine Maxwell next

Ghislaine Maxwell should be the next jailbird sprung by one-time friend and President Donald Trump, at least according to famed attorney Alan Dershowitz, who claims she was a 'scapegoat' for sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. The controversial lawyer, who once defended both Trump and the late pedophile, told 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 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 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.

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