U.S. Senate unanimously opposes Ghislaine Maxwell pardon

President Trump's friendship with dead billionaire Jeffrey Epstein is still a matter of endless public discussion. And it's rumored he plans to pardon convicted sex trafficker and Epstein "madam" Ghislaine Maxwell in return for "exonerating" him. Already moved to a cushier prison, Maxwell has reportedly worked on a "commutation application" to this end. Today the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution opposing such a pardon.

Introduced by Senator Jacky Rosen, a Democrat of Nevada, the resolution states that Maxwell "should not be granted a Presidential pardon or any form of clemency for her crimes with Jeffrey Epstein relating to the sexual exploitation and abuse of minors".

Although Senate resolutions like these are non-binding and symbolic, Rosen's office noted in a news release in February when she introduced the measure that the resolution was "designed to put the Senate on record opposing the prospect" of Donald Trump of granting a pardon or clemency to Maxwell.

Maxwell, the well-connected daughter of late media mogul Robert Maxwell, was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse minors. Epstein himself died in prison awaiting trial in 2019; he was briefly incarcerated after an earlier conviction for procuring a minor for prostitution, which did not cost him many of his famous friends.

The U.S. Senate is on the verge of confirming Todd Blanche, one of Trump's personal lawyers, as U.S. Attorney General. Blanche's hostility to Epstein's victims (and mismanagement of the so-called Epstein Files detailing his crimes) creates a serious credibility problem; this resolution allows his supporters to affect concern.