Trump says he could pardon Ghislaine Maxwell. But do Americans think he should?
The vast majority of Americans oppose granting clemency to Ghislaine Maxwell — something President Donald Trump has not ruled out, according to new polling.
In the latest YouGov/Economist survey, 64% of respondents said they do not think the president should pardon Maxwell, a convicted sex trafficker and longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein.
Just 4% said they believe Trump should pardon her, and about one-third, 32%, said they were not sure.
On this question, there was a broad consensus across the political spectrum, with 75% of Democrats, 60% of independents and 59% of Republicans opposing a pardon.
The survey, which sampled 1,777 U.S. adults July 25 to 28, has a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.
It comes after Trump — dogged by controversy over his administration’s handling of an investigation into Epstein — has left open the possibility of extending clemency to Maxwell, who is cooperating with federal investigators.
The poll also follows a report from The Wall Street Journal about “bawdy letters” sent to Epstein for his 50th birthday, including one from Trump, who has strongly denied writing the letter. It reportedly included a hand-drawn naked woman with the text “may every day be another wonderful secret” and “enigmas never age.” Trump has filed a $10 billion lawsuit over the report.
When asked about a possible pardon for Maxwell on July 25, Trump told reporters, “I’m allowed to do it, but it’s something I have not thought about.”
Three days later, he said, “I’m allowed to give her a pardon but nobody’s approached me with it. It’s in the news…but right now it would be inappropriate to talk about it.”
Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence in Florida after being convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking a minor, conspiring to entice minors to travel for illegal sexual activities, and related charges. New York prosecutors alleged that, between 1994 and 2004, she helped Epstein “recruit, groom, and ultimately abuse” underage victims. She is appealing her conviction.
Department of Justice officials have recently granted Maxwell — the daughter of British media mogul Robert Maxwell — a form of “limited immunity” to answer questions about Epstein, according to NBC News, citing an unnamed official.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche interviewed her in Florida on July 23 and 24, after which he vowed to “share additional information about what we learned at the appropriate time.”
“She was asked maybe about 100 different people,” David Oscar Markus, Maxwell’s attorney, told reporters, according to NBC News. “She answered questions about everybody, and she didn’t hold anything back. They asked about every single, every possible thing you could imagine, everything.”
This story was originally published July 29, 2025 at 12:58 PM with the headline "Trump says he could pardon Ghislaine Maxwell. But do Americans think he should?."