“Many people do,” Comer shared with Politico.
“However, my committee is divided on the matter. I cannot speak on behalf of my committee.”
He made it clear that he does not back the idea of a pardon.
Meanwhile, Robert Garcia, the Democratic counterpart to Comer, released a statement condemning the notion.
“The fact that Republicans on the Oversight Committee are even considering a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell is outrageous,” he stated.
“She is a sexual predator who played a role in the assault of women and children.”
He said a pardon would be a “shameful way to treat survivors”.
“Oversight Democrats are united in opposing any pardon,” he said.
Maxwell refused to testify during her deposition in February.
Garcia pointed out in his statement that after speaking to Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, now the acting Attorney-General, Maxwell was moved to a “cushy minimum-security women’s prison”.
Her lawyer has stated that Maxwell will testify if she is granted clemency from Trump.
Maxwell and Trump were long-time friends.
She is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking as well as conspiring with Epstein to abuse underage girls.
Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna dismissed the prospect of Maxwell getting out of prison.
“She’s not getting a pardon,” she said.
“The votes aren’t there for that.”
But a vote in Congress would be ultimately meaningless on the issue. Congress does not have the power to issue pardons.Â
The role is solely in the hands of the president, who has the power to pardon anyone convicted of a federal crime at will.
Were he to do so, there would be no way for Congress to stop him.
The Trump administration has come under fire after only releasing a fraction of the files connected with the Department of Justice’s investigation of Epstein.
Under a law passed earlier, they are required to release every file.
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