Top Republican lawmaker signals GOP openness to pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell

Shirsho Dasgupta, Miami Herald on Apr 24, 2026

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The top Republican on the U.S. House Oversight Committee said that some of his party colleagues are open to convicted child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell receiving a presidential pardon.

Chair Rep. James Comer told Politico that while he did not support it, a “lot of people” believed that a pardon in exchange for Maxwell’s testimony and cooperation with the panel’s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein would be a “favorable deal.”

“My committee’s split on that,” he said, but declined to name which of his colleagues supported granting a pardon.

Maxwell, 64, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison four years ago for conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse minors. She is the only convicted associate of Epstein.

She was invited to testify before the committee but refused to answer any substantive questions earlier this year.

President Donald Trump has not publicly ruled out the possibility of a pardon.

Last year he alternatively said that he would “have to take a look” and “speak to the DOJ,” and also that he has not “thought about it.”

The White House declined to answer whether the president is considering a pardon for Maxwell. Comer also did not respond to a request for comment.

The Democrats have signaled that they are united in opposition to any talk of pardoning Maxwell.

Democrat Ro Khanna, who spearheaded the release of the Epstein files along with Republican Thomas Massie, told the Herald that a pardon would be a “betrayal of the survivors and the American people who want to see justice.”

“It’s deeply troubling that Republicans are even entertaining the idea of a pardon,” said Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida in a statement to the Herald.

Maxwell’s attorney did not respond to the Herald’s request for comment.

“My sister Maria Farmer risked everything to report Ghislaine Maxwell, and I was asked by our government to be a witness against Maxwell at trial,” said Annie Farmer, herself one of Epstein and Maxwell’s victims, in a statement.

“Could you live with knowing that you’ve chosen to put a felon — who recruited, groomed, and threatened underage girls and young women — above survivors?”