President Trump was evasive about the possibility of pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend and accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein, when asked about the subject on Monday.
Speaking with reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said he would consult the Justice Department on the matter, the Washington Examiner reported.
"I haven’t heard the name in so long,” Trump told reporters of Maxwell. “I’d have to take a look at it. I would have to take a look.”
Controversy over Epstein was renewed this summer after the Justice Department affirmed that the financier died by suicide in jail and that he did not have an incriminating "client list."
The cut-and-dry conclusions sparked backlash from some in Trump's own base, where many have long believed that Epstein was part of a large and shadowy criminal conspiracy.
Theories about Epstein have since migrated leftward, as Democrats accuse Trump of a sinister effort to hide the so-called Epstein files.
Trump has been eager to put the Epstein firestorm to rest, although his own comments have at times fanned the flames.
“I’ll 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,” he continued Monday.
“I don’t know. I may not have to speak to the DOJ. I’ll look at it. I have a lot of people who have asked me for pardons.”
Maxwell is the only person other than Epstein to ever be charged for trafficking girls to him. She is serving a 20-year sentence for her role in recruiting "massage girls" for Epstein to abuse at his homes.
Trump has previously appeared to leave the door open to pardoning Maxwell. His latest comments on the matter came after the Supreme Court rejected Maxwell's appeal of her 2021 conviction for sex trafficking.
Any clemency for Maxwell would be certain to cause enormous controversy, including within Trump's own MAGA movement, which responded with consternation to the Justice Department's closure of the Epstein case in July.
But Trump has gone against his base before, previously disavowing "weaklings" on the right who remain focused on the Epstein matter. Trump has blasted the recent interest in the case as a cynical "hoax" being pushed by Democrats to distract from his achievements.
After she was thrust back into the spotlight this summer, Maxwell met with the Justice Department's No.2 official, Todd Blanche, for a controversial interview that fueled accusations that Maxwell was negotiating a pardon.
