Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi wants answers from the Justice Department about internal communications regarding a possible pardon for Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell.
In a letter sent Wednesday to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, the Illinois Democrat pointed to a recent POLITICO story where Maxwell’s attorney, David Oscar Markus, said there was “a good chance and for good reason that [Maxwell] would get a pardon” from President Donald Trump.
Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year sentence for her role in the sex trafficking scheme. The Supreme Court recently denied a bid to review her case, leaving presidential clemency the only obvious reprieve that could be available to her. Trump has not ruled out granting her clemency.
As POLITICO reported earlier this month, Markus said in an extensive interview he had reached out to Blanche last year to set up a meeting for his client to answer questions about the Epstein case. They met in Tallahassee for a two-day meeting in July, and Maxwell was moved to a minimum security prison camp in Texas shortly afterward. Blanche and Markus have both maintained that she was transferred because she was unsafe at her former facility.
“It is unacceptable that DOJ would be engaging at all with such an outrageous request,” Krishnamoorthi wrote to Blanche, who has known Markus for years.
Krishnamoorthi asked Blanche to promise he would not engage with the convicted sex offender around a pardon and requested to view communications with Maxwell or Markus related to a pardon.
DOJ did not immediately return a request for comment.
