House Speaker no fan of pardoning Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell

House Speaker Mike Johnson said he’s not in favor of President Trump providing clemency to Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, even if she provides information about an alleged list of wealthy clients who participated in sex crimes.

“It’s not my decision but I’d have great pause about that, as any reasonable person would do,” Mr. Johnson told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking crimes in 2021 and is serving a 20-year sentence at a minimum security prison. She met twice last week with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who is seeking information about Epstein’s alleged wealthy and influential clients who may have been involved with the girls trafficked by Epstein and Maxwell.

Mr. Johnson said Maxwell deserves a life sentence for her role in the trafficking and her current sentence “is a pittance.”

Maxwell is seeking some form of clemency from Mr. Trump in exchange for her cooperation. Mr. Trump said he hasn’t thought about whether to provide a pardon or clemency to Maxwell.

Prior to her interviews with Mr. Blanche, Maxwell asked the Supreme Court to throw out her conviction on the basis that she should have been excluded from prosecution under a prior Epstein plea agreement.

Epstein committed suicide in his jail cell in 2019 as he awaited federal prosecution on sex trafficking charges.

Mr. Trump is under pressure to release the government files on the case — a promise he made during his presidential campaign.  But much of the material is un-releasable grand jury testimony or was sealed by a federal judge in 2024 at the behest of prosecutors.

Mr. Johnson said the House GOP wants “maximum disclosure,” of the Epstein files to the public but does not agree with a bipartisan bill to force the release of them because it could expose the victims and force the release of typically secret grand jury transcripts.

“House Republicans believe they should have all of this information, to be able to determine what they will, but we have to protect the innocent and that’s the only safeguard here that we have to be diligent about. And I’m insistent upon doing so.”

Mr. Johnson last week cut the House session, letting lawmakers go home for the August recess one day early, to dodge a forced vote by House Democrats on a measure to release the Epstein files.