Ghislaine Maxwell thinks she is playing a high-stakes game of poker with Trump. She is actually playing solitaire with a deck full of jokers. Monday provided the proof.
Maxwell sat for a closed-door, virtual deposition with the House Oversight Committee and offered nothing but silence.
Footage released later by the committee shows her in a brown prison-issued shirt, wearing an expression that Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA) described as “robotic” and “unrepentant”.
Maxwell invoked the Fifth Amendment repeatedly. This was not a defense strategy. It was a setup for a blackmail attempt that has spectacularly backfired.
David Oscar Marcus, her attorney, issued a statement after the deposition with a proposition that defines chutzpah. He claimed Maxwell is ready to “speak fully and honestly” and provide the “unfiltered truth” about Jeffrey Epstein’s operation.
He teased that she alone can explain why “both President Trump and President Clinton are innocent of any wrongdoing”.
There is a catch. She will only tell this truth if Trump grants her clemency first.
Maxwell believes this offer is her key to freedom. She is wrong. She has just handed Trump every reason he needs to keep her locked up until her sentence expires in 2041.
The Concierge Cage
Maxwell might feel bold because she has forgotten what real prison feels like. Whistleblowers report that the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, has become a “concierge” facility for its most famous inmate.
Warden Tanisha Hall is accused of providing “special accommodations” that would make a Motel 6 jealous.
Allegations include custom meals prepared by staff and delivered to her cell, private visitation areas with refreshments, and even a puppy for her to play with.
This comfort has clearly warped her sense of reality. She assumes she has leverage. She assumes she can negotiate with the White House.
The administration has already sent a messenger. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche visited Maxwell last summer for a two-day interview. She was moved to this “plum” Texas facility shortly after that meeting - in the wake of her issuing a statement denying any wrongdoing by Trump.
The timeline suggests a transaction has already occurred. Trump buys her silence with comfort. Maxwell buys her safety with silence.
The Logical Dead End
Her new offer destroys that equilibrium. She is trying to force Trump’s hand publicly. This is where she outsmarted herself.
Consider the logic. Maxwell claims she can prove Trump is “innocent of any wrongdoing”. If Trump is truly innocent, he does not need her help. He definitely does not need to spend political capital pardoning a convicted sex trafficker to prove a negative. He can simply leave her in Texas and claim the investigation is a witch hunt.
The alternative is that Trump is guilty of something. In that case, releasing Maxwell is the most dangerous thing he could do.
A pardon removes the threat of self-incrimination. If Trump pardons her, she loses her Fifth Amendment right to remain silent regarding the pardoned offenses. She could be subpoenaed and forced to testify. If she tells the truth then, she destroys him. If she lies to protect him, she commits perjury.
Clemency is conditional. A caught lie would likely result in the immediate revocation of her leniency. She would go straight back to prison, likely to a facility far less pleasant than FPC Bryan.
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A Guaranteed Sentence
Maxwell has created a trap she cannot escape.
Trump cannot pardon her because she becomes a liability the moment she is free. He cannot accept her offer because it implies he needs exoneration.
The safest option for the White House is to do exactly what they are doing. Let her sit in Texas. Let her eat her custom meals. Let her play with her puppy. But never, ever let her out.
She tried to use the truth as a bargaining chip. She forgot that truth is toxic to Trump and his accomplices. Nobody in his circle wants “unfiltered truth.” They want managed silence.
Ghislaine Maxwell tried to negotiate her release. Instead, she just welded her cell door shut for the next 15 years.
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Putin will get her first
I hope you are right, as that woman walking free would be a travesty.
I would prefer her to be removed from her cushy prison and put right back in her original prison.
I'm not sure that Trump has the intelligence to figure all that out, and fear he may pardon her instead.
Of course there is always the "suicide in her cell" option.