Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche promised Congress on Tuesday that he would not recommend a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted co-conspirator of Jeffrey Epstein.
When Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) asked whether the Justice Department would not recommend a pardon for Maxwell, Blanche replied, “Yes, I can commit to that, of course.”
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The senator initially asked whether a pardon would be recommended for “people named in the Epstein files,” prompting the witness to ask for clarification. Van Hollen then narrowed his question to Maxwell.
The remarks came during Blanche’s first congressional testimony since taking over the DOJ last month. The purpose of the hearing was to ask the acting attorney general about the department’s fiscal 2027 budget request, but Democratic lawmakers took the opportunity to ask about the DOJ’s handling of the Epstein files and meetings with the survivors.
During his line of questioning, Van Hollen said he spoke with some Epstein victims who claimed Blanche had not met with them. Blanche responded that he would “absolutely” meet with them while disputing the “false” claim that he has not met with any of them yet.
“I have met with them,” he said. “I’ve met with many of the lawyers for the survivors and victims, as did Attorney General [Pam] Bondi. So whoever told you that, unfortunately, gave you bad information.
“I would encourage them to reach out to the Department of Justice because, like we do every single day, we absolutely care for victims and we absolutely want to hear from them and their lawyers.”
Following the congressional hearing, a group of Epstein survivors contradicted Blanche’s comments.
“Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has not met with any of us,” the coalition said in a statement. “As survivors, we previously sought a meeting with former Attorney General Bondi and Department of Justice officials, but no meeting occurred.
“We should not have to be this persistent to engage with DOJ — the department responsible for handling the Epstein files, protecting their privacy, and answering for years of secrecy and failure.”
Annie Farmer, one of the statement’s signatories, similarly said Blanche “cannot rewrite history or pretend this DOJ was meeting with us when the evidence shows otherwise.”
Farmer said she sent a letter to Blanche before he met with Maxwell last year, outlining her concerns about pardoning or commuting the sentence of the Epstein co-conspirator. The survivor said she was met with “silence,” followed by the DOJ’s decision to relocate Maxwell from a federal prison in Florida to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas.
However, Farmer is pleased with Blanche’s admission about not recommending a pardon for Maxwell.
“Regarding Blanche’s statement that he will not recommend pardoning Maxwell, although a long time coming, we welcome this,” she said. “We will hold him to it. And we ask that he make the same commitment regarding not recommending the commutation of her sentence either.”
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President Donald Trump has the power to pardon Maxwell, who was convicted of federal offenses related to child sex trafficking. Last summer, Trump did not rule out granting her clemency.
“I haven’t thought about it,” Trump said at the time. “I’m allowed to do it, but it’s something I haven’t thought about.”
