Ex-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie warns Ghislaine Maxwell is looking for a pardon

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is cautioning against trusting anything Ghislaine Maxwell has to say about her time as sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime confidante, saying she is angling for a presidential pardon.

In a recently released interview with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Maxwell said she never saw President Trump do anything illegal, while singing his praises.

Mr. Christie said it is important to remember that Maxwell is imprisoned for sex trafficking and Mr. Trump has the power to free her.

“She might as well have taken out Donald Trump, or President Trump, and said, ‘the man who can pardon me has never done anything wrong,’” Mr. Christie said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “‘The man who can pardon me has always been wonderful.’”

“Why should we believe a damn thing Ghislaine Maxwell has to say about anyone?” Mr. Christie said. “That doesn’t make Donald Trump guilty of anything. In fact, in my own experience, I don’t think Donald Trump had anything to do with Jefferey Epstein that was untoward or illegal, but we are going to believe Ghislaine Maxwell? Give me a break.”

In a July interview with Mr. Blanche, Attorney General Pam Bondi’s top deputy, Maxwell praised Mr. Trump, saying he “always very cordial and very kind to me, and I just want to say I admire his extraordinary achievement in becoming the president now, and I like him.”

Asked whether she had heard anyone say Mr. Trump had “done anything inappropriate with museses or with anybody in your world,” Maxwell answered, “absolutely never.”

Mr. Trump has not ruled out the possibility of a pardon for Maxwell.

“I’m allowed to do it, but it’s something I haven’t thought about,” Mr Trump said in late July.

Maxwell is seeking a pardon or a reduction in her 20-year sentence. She is appealing her conviction.

After the late July interview, she was transferred to a minimum-security federal prison camp in Texas, raising eyebrows.

Epstein died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. Prison officials ruled it a suicide.

Suspicions have swirled that Epstein kept a client list that would implicate some of the nation’s most well-known figures.

The Department of Justice and the FBI announced in July that they were closing the Epstein case after finding no incriminating client list and no credible evidence that Epstein had blackmailed anyone.

The decision angered some of the most prominent MAGA voices.