Conservatives divided on value of Ghislaine Maxwell testimony
Republicans are divided on the value of Ghislaine Maxwell as she takes center stage in the Jeffrey Epstein files saga.
Some view the convicted sex trafficker as the key to unlocking additional information about the Epstein enigma — such as revealing high-powered abusers of young women who have not faced legal consequences for their crimes, or secret arrangements Epstein had that enabled his abuse.
But others warn that Maxwell, who was complicit in the abuse and previously faced perjury charges (on which she was not convicted), is not a reliable witness and deserves no special treatment.
Hanging over Maxwell’s discussion with the Department of Justice and the House Oversight Committee’s subpoena of Maxwell is her desire for a pardon or commutation.
President Trump hasn’t ruled out a pardon for Maxwell, but hasn’t indicated he is considering one, either. Trump said Monday that “I’m allowed to give her” a pardon, but “nobody’s approached me.”
Some conservatives are slowly cracking the door to that possibility.
Newsmax host Greg Kelly suggested last week that Maxwell “just might be a victim.”
“Maybe she never deserved to be in there [prison] in the first place .... Prosecutors prosecuted President Trump over nothing. I don't know, but I'm skeptical of everything and everybody these days,” Kelly said.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who has emerged as a top GOP Trump antagonist in Congress and is pushing to force a vote on a bipartisan measure to direct the DOJ to release more Epstein material, expressed openness to a Maxwell pardon or commutation on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
“That would be up to the president. But if she has information that could help us, then I think she should testify. Let's get that out there. And whatever they need to do to compel that testimony, as long as it's truthful, I would be in favor of,” Massie said.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), on the other hand, has emerged as one of the most prominent figure urging caution when considering those kinds of sweeteners for Maxwell testimony.
“If you’re asking my opinion, I think 20 years was a pittance. I think she should have a life sentence at least,” Johnson said Sunday, also on “Meet the Press.”
“It’s hard to put into words how evil this was, and that she orchestrated it and was a big part of it, at least under the criminal sanction, I think is an unforgivable thing … So again, not my decision, but I have great pause about that, as any reasonable person would,” Johnson said.
Trump-supporting commentator Jack Posobiec has also raised skepticism about Maxwell, saying her motive is very clear in wanting to reduce her sentence or get a full pardon. Maxell, he said, “needs to provide receipts and names”
“If Ghislane Maxwell wants anything from the Department of Justice, there need to be names, there needs to be receipts … Who did what, where did it happen and you also have to provide information that is able to back up the credibility of the accusation,” Posobiec said last week.
Maxwell has already sat for a two-day interview with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and was reportedly granted limited immunity before doing so.
Maxwell’s attorney, David Oscar Markus, said in a statement to NewsNation on Friday that it was a “thorough, comprehensive interview.”
“No person and no topic were off-limits. We are very grateful. The truth will come out,” Markus said.
Blanche said the department would share more information “at the appropriate time.”
Maxwell on Monday formally appealed to the Supreme Court in hopes of overturning her conviction. The Justice Department has opposed her appeal.
Often left out of the flurry of Epstein drama over the last few weeks are the effects of the developments on Epstein's victims. Independent journalist Tara Palmeri, who has reported extensively on the Epstein case over the years, reported that survivors of the abuse from Epstein and Maxwell feel betrayed by the Justice Department and others going to her.
“It’s very backhanded. Why don’t they go to the survivors? Why is she being called the Rosetta Stone? The victims know everything too. They were eyewitnesses,” Marijke Chartouni, one of Epstein’s survivors,said in Palmeri’s “The Red Letter.”
Further reading: Todd Blanche takes the helm of Ghislaine Maxwell talks, from my colleagues Zach Schonfeld and Ella Lee in their newsletter, The Gavel.
Welcome to The Movement, a weekly newsletter looking at the influences and debates on the right in Washington. I'm Emily Brooks, House leadership reporter at The Hill. Tell me what’s on your radar: ebrooks@thehill.com.
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CONSERVATIVE SCRUTINY RISES ON FDA APPOINTEE
A wave of conservative scrutiny is crashing on a key FDA official: Vinay Prasad, the FDA’s chief medical and scientific officer and the director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.
It started with conservative provocateur Laura Loomer, who has spent months digging up dirt on Trump administration appointees to raise alarm about what she calls a “vetting crisis” that is putting Trump antagonists in positions of power.
Prasad, Loomer said, is a “progressive leftist saboteur undermining President Trump’s FDA” — highlighting his self-described support for progressive Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
Wall Street Journal editorial board member Allysia Finley expanded on that criticism in an opinion piece on Monday that dubbed Prasad a “Bernie Sanders Acolyte in MAHA Drag.” She criticized the FDA for in recent weeks for rejecting disease therapies, and noted Prasad’s previous stated skepticism of the “Right to Try” law — which Trump signed in his first term — that is intended to allow terminally ill patients wider access to drugs not yet approved by the FDA.
The irony is that Prasad has also gotten praise from the “Make America Healthy Again” crowd over his stances and policies on COVID vaccines.
Robert Goldberg, vice president of The Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, noted that phenomenon while slamming Prasad in RealClear Health.
“A few vaccine-hesitant soundbites and critiques of lockdowns, and suddenly he’s portrayed as a maverick ally of the populist right. But don’t be fooled,” Goldberg wrote.
Some on the right, though, are suspicious of ulterior motives behind the wave of criticism. Daily Caller reporter Emily Kopp noted the criticism of Prasad coincides with the FDA asking drugmaker Sarepta Therapeutics to stop distribution of its therapy for a muscle-wasting disease after three patients on its therapy or a similar one died.
FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, for his part, defended Prasad when asked about Loomer’s attacks in a Politico’s podcast The Conversation with Dasha Burns that premiered Sunday.
“Look, there’s not a political bone to his body,” Makary said. “He’s an impeccable scientist. I think one of the greatest scientific minds of our generation.”
Go deeper in Finley’s WSJ op-ed: Vinay Prasad Is a Bernie Sanders Acolyte in MAHA Drag…
TARIFF TOLD-YOU-SOS
Defenders of President Trump’s tariff strategy are doing a big round of I-told-you-so on the heels of a tariff agreement with the European Union announced over the weekend.
The deal came ahead of an Aug. 1 deadline for the president’s tariff increases to kick in unless countries strike a deal with the U.S. — tariffs that rocked financial markets after “Liberation Day” in April, but have been met by a much calmer Wall Street ahead of this deadline, CNBC reports.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick posted on X on Sunday: “Where are the ‘experts’ now?”
Circulating rapidly in conservative circles is a clip from liberal commentator Bill Maher saying “I would have thought — and I gotta own it — that these tariffs were going to f—ing sink this economy by this time — and they didn't."
For Republicans, the tariff deal is feeding into their narrative of Trump being underestimated and beating the odds.
“The experts mocked him. The media laughed. Democrats panicked. But President Trump reshaped global trade, and WON for America,” Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) posted on X.
The EU-US deal includes a 15 percent tariff on European exports including autos; an agreement for the EU to buy $750 billion worth of American energy; and no EU tariffs on certain American exports including aircraft and some generic drugs, per the New York Times.
Related: Donald Trump has won the Hulkamania tariffs brawl he started, from Bloomberg Opinion’s John Authers…. How the EU succumbed to Trump’s tariff steamroller, from the Financial Times.
ON MY CALENDAR
- Wednesday, July 30: Breitbart News hosts a discussion with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, co-sponsored by the Alfa Institute and CGCN, at 9:30am.
- Wednesday, July 30: The Cato Institute hosts discussion on the impact of tariffs on wine and whiskey — followed by a wine and whiskey tasting — featuring Scott Lincicome, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) at 4 p.m.
- Monday, August 25 to Thursday, August 28: State Policy Network Annual Meeting in New Orleans, La.
THREE MORE THINGS
- Tiffany Justice is the new national grassroots leader at Heritage Action, the advocacy arm of the conservative think tank, the group is announcing today. She was a co-founder at Moms for Liberty and as a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, launched the group’s Parental Rights Initiative and founded the Parental Rights Network. Kevin Roberts, president of Heritage Action and the Heritage Foundation, called Justice a “force or nature” in the announcement; Justice said she aims to “unite Americans around commonsense, conservative solutions that strengthen families, protect freedoms, and deliver real results.”
- 2028 watch: Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared to endorse Vice President JD Vance in a potential 2028 run — a notable statement given President Trump once listed both Rubio and Vance as people who could lead the MAGA movement after he leaves office. In an interview on Fox News’s “My View with Lara Trump,” Rubio said: “I think JD Vance would be a great nominee … if he decides he wants to do that.”
- Israel-Gaza divide: There’s a fissure emerging among some of the loudest personalities in the House GOP over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza — or even recognizing that there is one. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) notably decried the situation on X on Monday: “I can unequivocally say that what happened to innocent people in Israel on Oct 7th was horrific. Just as I can unequivocally say that what has been happening to innocent people and children in Gaza is horrific. This war and humanitarian crisis must end!” But Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.), on the other hand, claimed in a post on X on Sunday: “There is no starvation. Everything about the ‘Palestinian’ cause is a lie.”
WHAT I'M READING
- New York Times’s Glenn Thrush and Julian E. Barnes: Gabbard’s Attacks on Obama Put the Attorney General in a Tough Spot
- RealClearPolitics’s Philip Wegmann: DeSantis: Alligator Alcatraz Should Be Model for Other States
- Washington Examiner’s Salena Zito: How opposition from outdoorsmen made a difference on the proposed public lands sale
- Politico’s Rachael Bade: Trump 2.0 Doesn’t Like Drama. So Why’s He Swallowing So Many Bad Headlines About Hegseth?