CNN senior authorized analyst Elie Honig was blown away after listening to President Donald Trump’s reply to a query about whether or not he would pardon convicted intercourse trafficker and shut Jeffrey Epstein affiliate Ghislaine Maxwell.
“It’s the simplest query in human historical past,” Honig told host Michael Smerconish on Saturday, quoting colleague Kevin Liptak as appropriately asking, “Are you kidding me?”
On Friday, following the information that the Justice Division’s No. 2 official had met with Maxwell in federal jail, a reporter requested Trump if he would take into account a pardon or commutation for her.
“It’s one thing I haven’t considered,” Trump replied. “I’m allowed to do it, but it surely’s one thing I’ve not considered.”
Honig expressed bewilderment on the reply.
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“A pardon for the one worst, or No. 2 after Jeffrey Epstein, worst baby intercourse trafficker in trendy historical past?” he mentioned. “Completely not. N-O.”
Finally, Honig mentioned it was “laborious to think about” that Trump would pardon Maxwell, although he famous “different individuals who I do know who’re nearer to Donald Trump and who’ve labored with him previously say it may effectively occur.”
Trump is dealing with escalating calls for to launch the information associated to the case towards the late Epstein, because the press continues to dig into his past friendship with the disgraced financier. The president left the nation on Friday for a golf-heavy trip to Scotland, and was bombarded with questions about Epstein from reporters earlier than takeoff and after landing.