{"id":53052,"date":"2026-07-30T13:08:01","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T13:08:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=53052"},"modified":"2026-07-30T13:08:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T13:08:06","slug":"senate-unanimously-passes-resolution-opposing-pardon-for-ghislaine-maxwell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2026\/07\/30\/senate-unanimously-passes-resolution-opposing-pardon-for-ghislaine-maxwell\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate unanimously passes resolution opposing pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The US Senate on Wednesday unanimously passed a resolution declaring its opposition to any presidential pardon for\u00a0Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime\u00a0Jeffrey Epstein\u00a0associate who is currently serving a\u00a020-year prison sentence\u00a0for sex-trafficking crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introduced by Senator Jacky Rosen, a Democrat of Nevada, the\u00a0resolution\u00a0states that Maxwell \u201cshould not be granted a Presidential pardon or any form of clemency for her crimes with Jeffrey Epstein relating to the sexual exploitation and abuse of minors\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Senate resolutions like these are non-binding and symbolic, Rosen\u2019s office noted in a\u00a0news release\u00a0in February when she introduced the measure that the resolution was \u201cdesigned to put the Senate on record opposing the prospect\u201d of Donald Trump of granting a pardon or clemency to Maxwell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s frankly horrifying that Trump would entertain the idea of clemency for even a second for a convicted sex trafficker,\u201d Rosen said in a floor speech on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The resolution was brought on Wednesday, as the Senate\u00a0weighed\u00a0Trump\u2019s nomination of Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, to stay in the role permanently. Rosen said its unanimous passage sent a\u00a0clear message\u00a0to the White House and Blanche that \u201cthere should be NO special treatment for Ghislaine Maxwell\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Attorney<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A representative for Maxwell did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By refusing to object, Republicans agreed to the resolution, which states that granting Maxwell \u201ca pardon, commutation, or any other form of executive clemency\u201d would be \u201cinconsistent with the interests of justice and accountability for crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children\u201d. The resolution also states that \u201cthe President should not grant a pardon, commutation, or any other form of executive clemency\u201d to Maxwell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Senate stands with the victims of sexual exploitation and trafficking and affirms its commitment to justice, accountability, and the protection of children,\u201d it adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The resolution comes as Maxwell has exhausted a series of appeals of her conviction, with the US supreme court\u00a0declining to hear\u00a0her petition last October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this year, in February, Maxwell appeared via video for a congressional deposition before the House committee on oversight and government reform as part of its investigation into Epstein, but refused to answer questions and\u00a0invoked her fifth amendment right. Her attorney told lawmakers that she would only speak if granted clemency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April, reports emerged that members of the congressional committee\u00a0were divided\u00a0over whether Trump should consider pardoning Maxwell in exchange for her cooperation in the panel\u2019s Epstein investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, after the supreme court declined to hear Maxwell\u2019s appeal, Trump was\u00a0asked\u00a0directly whether he would consider pardoning her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou know, I haven\u2019t heard the name in so long,\u201d he said at the time. \u201cI can say this: that I\u2019d have to take a look at it. I would have to take a look.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added: \u201cI wouldn\u2019t consider it or not consider \u2013 I don\u2019t know anything about it. I will speak to the DoJ.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In May of this year Blanche\u00a0told lawmakers\u00a0during a hearing that he would not recommend a pardon for Maxwell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the same hearing, he was questioned about the\u00a0interview\u00a0he conducted with Maxwell last summer, as part of the justice department\u2019s Epstein investigation, and the fact that shortly after she was\u00a0transferred\u00a0from a federal prison in Florida to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas \u2013 a move which experts described at the time as \u201cunprecedented\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the hearing Blanche\u00a0denied\u00a0that Trump personally sent him to interview Maxwell, and also claimed that he didn\u2019t know whether Maxwell was\u00a0receiving preferential treatment\u00a0at her new facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prospect of clemency for Maxwell<\/a> has long outraged survivors of Epstein\u2019s abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this year, in May, an attorney who has represented numerous Epstein survivors,\u00a0told the Guardian\u00a0that \u201cany talk of clemency for Ghislaine Maxwell in exchange for testimony turns justice on its head \u2013 it risks rewarding the very person who helped enable the abuse\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The US Senate on Wednesday unanimously passed a resolution declaring its opposition to any presidential pardon for\u00a0Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime\u00a0Jeffrey Epstein\u00a0associate who is currently serving a\u00a020-year prison sentence\u00a0for sex-trafficking crimes. Introduced by Senator Jacky Rosen, a Democrat of Nevada, the\u00a0resolution\u00a0states that Maxwell \u201cshould not be granted a Presidential pardon or any form of clemency for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":20961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"theguardian","_post_source_url":"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com","footnotes":""},"categories":[461,12],"tags":[4791,9306,10160,287,11282,9560,10507,10391,5799,12559,9127,5321,7345,2264,5563,11493,10197,739,10419,7956,7939,8510,12630,3805,11377,11659,8306,4817,6431,6575,5655,8501,6082,11307,7584,10041,7333,1825,6264,5355,9313,8206,6348,7354,9539,8033,6571,2982,3954],"class_list":["post-53052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-world-news","tag-abuse","tag-appeal","tag-blanche","tag-children","tag-convicted","tag-conviction","tag-court","tag-declined","tag-democrat","tag-epstein","tag-february","tag-florida","tag-ghislaine-maxwell","tag-government","tag-grant","tag-interview","tag-investigation","tag-jeffrey-epstein","tag-justice","tag-justice-department","tag-maxwell","tag-nevada","tag-petition","tag-president","tag-presidential","tag-presidential-pardon","tag-prison","tag-prison-sentence","tag-release","tag-republicans","tag-security","tag-senate","tag-senator","tag-sentence","tag-sex","tag-speech","tag-summer","tag-supreme-court","tag-survivors","tag-texas","tag-trafficking","tag-treatment","tag-us","tag-us-supreme-court","tag-victims","tag-video","tag-white","tag-white-house","tag-will"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53052"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53053,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53052\/revisions\/53053"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}