Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) slammed President Trump for signaling Monday that he could “take a look” at issuing a pardon for convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell.
“I just want to add just how outrageous it was for Donald Trump, in today’s White House interview that he had with the press, to even, somehow, lean into the idea of a pardon for a convicted sexual trafficker who herself abused girls, walked them to Jeffrey Epstein’s home where they continued to get more abuse,” Garcia told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell.
“And I’ve heard from numerous survivors of both Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who are just outraged at the treatment she is getting by the [Justice Department] and by being moved to that facility that she’s currently in,” he added, referring to Maxwell’s move to a lower-security prison camp in Texas over the summer.
Earlier Monday, the Supreme Court declined to consider Maxwell’s appeal of her sex trafficking conviction. Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence for aiding the late disgraced financier in his sex crimes.
President Trump, speaking with reporters in the Oval Office after the high court’s decision, said he will speak with the Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding Maxwell’s case. The department has opposed her appeal.
“I haven’t heard the name in so long. I can say this, is I’d have to take a look at it,” Trump said.
Garcia is the ranking member on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which is conducting an inquiry into the FBI and DOJ’s investigations into Epstein and Maxwell. In July, committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) issued a subpoena for Maxwell.
Maxwell, through her attorney, requested immunity in exchange for her testimony — which the committee rejected. While Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche interviewed her at a federal correctional facility in Florida, she has yet to testify to the Oversight Committee.
On Monday, Garcia said that a “date is being set” for Maxwell to testify to the committee, during which “you can bet that we have a lot of questions.”
“Ghislaine Maxwell now has a responsibility to come in front of the Oversight Committee and answer our questions,” the California Democrat added. “Chairman Comer has agreed to bring her in. Her legal team, who we’ve also been in communication with, are very aware that she has to come in front of us.”