Ranking Member Raskin Files Resolution Opposing Pardon or Commutation for Epstein Accomplice and Convicted Child Sex Trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell

Washington, D.C. (November 26, 2025)—Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, filed a resolution expressing the House of Representatives’ strong opposition to any grant of clemency, commutation, or pardon to convicted child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. The action follows explosive whistleblower evidence released earlier this month by Judiciary Democrats that Maxwell—who was recently transferred to a minimum security prison camp where she enjoys special perks like room-service meals delivered to her cell, unique exercise and shower privileges and the right to have guests visit her with computers—is now actively preparing a “Commutation Application” for submission to President Trump.

Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison for her role in a conspiracy to sexually exploit and abuse minor girls with Jeffrey Epstein over the course of a decade. She was found guilty of multiple felonies, including sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to entice and transport minors to engage in illegal sex acts. 

Maxwell’s case for clemency fails every requirement considered by the Department of Justice’s Office of the Pardon Attorney in making recommendations to the President: she has refused to take responsibility for her crimes, she has shown no contrition or remorse, she has continued to demean and disparage her victims, and she has served less than 20% of her sentence.

Ranking Member Raskin issued the following statement on the resolution:

“Pardons are for people who acknowledge their criminal responsibility. They’re for people who have shown remorse and contrition for their offenses against society, and for offenders who have tried to make amends with their victims. Ghislaine Maxwell is the exact opposite of the kind of prisoner who deserves a pardon. She continues to lie about the crimes she committed and enabled, continues to disparage and denigrate the women who she victimized and continues to cover up for perhaps the worst global sex-trafficking conspiracy ever run out of the United States.

“Any commutation of Maxwell’s sentence, any pardon of her crimes committed in service of child sex trafficking and rape, would be a grotesque betrayal of American justice. To use the clemency power to free and absolve a hardened child sex-trafficking criminal would be a slap in the face to the survivors who have braved every risk to expose her shocking crimes. 

“It is true that the President has unilateral control over the pardon power. But Congress has the unilateral power to speak on behalf of the lawmaking branch and the people we represent. Just as President Trump aggressively lobbied Members of Congress not to vote for release of the Epstein files (until he changed his mind at the last minute), we have the right to speak about the abuse of the pardon power to violate the rule of law, justice and public safety.

“Every Member should support this Resolution to send a clear and unequivocal message in advance to President Donald Trump before he makes a mockery of the pardon power once again. America opposes the grant of any get-out-of-jail-free card to the unrepentant, unremorseful liar and criminal who was an indispensable actor in a vicious billion-dollar international child sex trafficking ring. Let’s take a stand against the child traffickers and sexual predators—and for the survivors of Epstein and Maxwell’s crimes.”

Whistleblower information provided to the Judiciary Committee suggests Maxwell is working on filing a “Commutation Application” with the Trump Administration—demonstrating that Maxwell may be requesting to be released from her 20-year prison sentence for her role as a co-conspirator in Jeffrey Epstein’s international child sex trafficking ring.

When asked in October if he was considering a pardon or commutation for Maxwell, President Trump said, “I’d have to take a look at it.” 

In July, Maxwell was inexplicably transferred to Federal Prison Camp (FPC) Bryan, a plum minimum-security facility, in apparent flagrant violation of Bureau of Prisons (BOP) policies, including one that explicitly prohibits the placement of sex offenders in such facilities. Department of Justice (DOJ) and BOP arranged this transfer after Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche interviewed Maxwell over a two-day period in July, during which Maxwell claimed she never saw Trump “in any inappropriate setting in any way” and testified “that there was nothing from President Trump” in Mr. Epstein’s 50th birthday book—all proven to be bald-faced lies. She also repeated, unchallenged by Mr. Blanche, many of the same lies that led the Trump DOJ to charge her with perjury in 2020.

The Warden at FPC Bryan is now heaping favorable treatment on Maxwell and threatening retaliation against any inmates who speak out regarding this unfair treatment.

Click here to read the resolution.