Trump's Dumb Act on Ghislane Maxwell Pardon Fooled No One

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https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trumps-dumb-act-on-ghislane-maxwell-pardon-fooled-no-one.html

Trump’s Dumb Act on Ghislane Maxwell Pardon Fooled No One
By Margaret Hartmann



Hey, if you were president, would you pardon a person convicted of child sex trafficking? Most people would say “no.” And they’d probably answer even faster if their friendship with said sex trafficker was at the center of one of the biggest scandals of their presidency.

Donald Trump went with a different tactic on Monday. During an Oval Office press conference, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked the president if he’d consider pardoning Ghislane Maxwell, now that the Supreme Court has declined to review the 2021 conviction of Jeffrey Epstein’s accomplice.

“I haven’t heard the name in so long,” he said. “I can say this: I’d have to take a look at it.”

Trump suggested he was totally ignorant of Maxwell’s appeal, asking Collins for details. “Well, I’ll take a look at it,” he repeated. “I will speak to the DOJ. I wouldn’t consider it or not consider it. I don’t know anything about it, but I’ll speak to the DOJ.”

Then Trump tried to deflect by noting that Sean Combs — another old pal recently convicted of sex-related offenses — had already asked him for a pardon.

“I have a lot of people that have asked me for pardons. Uh, I call him ‘Puff Daddy.’ He’s asked me for a pardon,” he said.

Trump was trying to merely play dumb, but he’s actually an idiot if he thought this strategy would work.

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