{"id":246264,"date":"2026-04-25T14:06:39","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T14:06:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/246264\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T14:06:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T14:06:39","slug":"some-gop-members-open-to-maxwell-pardon-comer-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/246264\/","title":{"rendered":"Some GOP members open to Maxwell pardon, Comer says"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"This<\/p>\n

This photo of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his onetime girlfriend and recruiter of girls and young women, was presented by U.S. Attorney during Maxwell’s trial, which occurred after Epstein’s death in prison.<\/p>\n

Miami<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Chair Rep. James Comer told Politico that while he did not support it, a \u201clot of people\u201d believed that a pardon in exchange for Maxwell\u2019s testimony and cooperation with the panel\u2019s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein would be a \u201cfavorable deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy committee\u2019s split on that,\u201d he said, but declined to name which of his colleagues supported granting a pardon.<\/p>\n

\"House House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer talks to reporters following a closed-door, remote deposition from convicted child sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on February 09, 2026 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla Getty Images <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

She was invited to testify before the committee but refused to answer any substantive questions earlier this year.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump has not publicly ruled out the possibility of a pardon.<\/p>\n

Last year he alternatively said<\/a> that he would \u201chave to take a look\u201d and \u201cspeak to the DOJ,\u201d and also that he has not \u201cthought about it<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Jeffrey Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in a photograph introduced as evidence at her sex trafficking trial. <\/p>\n

The Democrats have signaled that they are united in opposition to any talk of pardoning Maxwell.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cbetrayal of the survivors and the American people who want to see justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s deeply troubling that Republicans are even entertaining the idea of a pardon,\u201d said Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida in a statement to the Herald.<\/p>\n

Maxwell\u2019s attorney did not respond to the Herald\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy sister Maria Farmer risked everything to report Ghislaine Maxwell, and I was asked by our government to be a witness against Maxwell at trial,\u201d said Annie Farmer, herself one of Epstein and Maxwell\u2019s victims<\/a>, in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cCould you live with knowing that you\u2019ve chosen to put a felon \u2014 who recruited, groomed, and threatened underage girls and young women \u2014 above survivors?\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was originally published April 24, 2026 at 2:47 PM.<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Shirsho Dasgupta<\/a><\/p>\n

Miami Herald<\/p>\n

Shirsho Dasgupta combines traditional reporting with data analysis to produce high-impact stories and accountability journalism. A two-time Livingston Award finalist, he also won a Sigma Delta Chi Award in 2025 and was named finalist for the Scripps Howard Award in 2024. His stories have spurred investigations, influenced legislation and received numerous awards and citations from the National Press Foundation, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing and others.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This photo of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his onetime girlfriend and recruiter of girls and young women,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":{"0":"post-246264","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami","8":"tag-miami","9":"tag-miami-headlines","10":"tag-miami-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}