Ghislaine Maxwell, the disgraced British socialite and co-conspirator of Jeffrey Epstein, is planning to appeal to Donald Trump to commute her 20-year prison sentence, according to a whistleblower.
Maxwell, a convicted sex offender, revealed her intentions in an email with the subject “commutation application” sent to her lawyer Leaf Saffian, and reviewed by Sky’s US partner NBC News.
“I am struggling to keep it all together as it is big and there are so many attachments,” Maxwell wrote in the email.
Now President Trump is facing pressure to rule out an early release for the 63-year-old, who was sentenced in 2022 for sex trafficking.
Maxwell recruited young girls for her former boyfriend, billionaire paedophile Epstein, during the 1990s and early 2000s.
In a letter to the president, representative Jamie Raskin, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, demanded answers over Maxwell’s planned appeal to Mr Trump.
He also hit out at perks she’s reportedly receiving while in prison.
“You should not grant any form of clemency to this convicted and unrepentant sex offender,” Mr Raskin wrote.
“Your administration should not be providing her with room service, with puppies to play with, with federal law enforcement officials waiting on her every need, or with any special treatment or institutional privilege at all.”
Where is Maxwell behind bars?
Maxwell was moved from a low-security facility in Florida to Federal Prison Camp, Bryan, in August.
The latter, in Texas, is an all-female institution where inmates convicted of non-violent or white-collar crimes sleep in dormitory-style quarters.
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The transfer came a week after she met deputy attorney general Todd Blanche and Maxwell’s lawyer David Oscar Markus.
Within days of arriving, Maxwell gushed in emails about her new surroundings.
“The food is legions better, the place is clean, the staff responsive and polite,” she wrote in one email seen by NBC News.
She added: “I am much much happier here and more importantly safe.”
‘Concierge-style’ treatment
A whistleblower told Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee she was getting “concierge-style” treatment at the camp, with customised meals, after-hours access to exercise facilities, and time to play with a puppy.
A top official at the camp complained he is “sick of having to be Maxwell’s bitch”, according to the whistleblower, who has not been identified.
Mr Raskin has now requested that Mr Blanche appear for a public congressional hearing to discuss the revelations.
NBC News has reached out to Maxwell’s lawyer for comment.
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White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the administration “does not comment on potential clemency requests. As President Trump has stated, pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell is not something he has thought about”.
Maxwell was convicted on five sex trafficking-related counts in 2021.
She appealed the conviction but the Supreme Court rejected her challenge in early October.
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Asked at the time if he would pardon her, Mr Trump said: “I haven’t heard the name in so long. I can say this, that I’d have to take a look at it.”
He added: “I wouldn’t consider it or not consider, I don’t know anything about it.”
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has granted a “full, complete, and unconditional pardon” to dozens of individuals, including his former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
Epstein killed himself in a New York City jail in 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.
