Some House Republicans Think Pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell Is Good Idea

They think this will make her more likely to dish new dirt on Jeffrey Epstein.

A pathway to freedom is slowly opening up for Ghislaine Maxwell, thanks to the work of several House Republicans.

Conservatives on the House Oversight Committee are reportedly “split” over whether Donald Trump should pardon Jeffrey Epstein’s girlfriend and longtime accomplice.

Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer told Politico Wednesday that “a lot of people” in his caucus believed it was a worthwhile exchange for her testimony against Epstein.

“My committee’s split on that,” Comer said, before noting that he is personally against the deal, observing that the optics “look bad.”

“Honestly, other than Epstein, the worst person in this whole investigation is Maxwell,” Comer added.

Comer’s Democratic counterpart, ranking member Robert Garcia, told the publication that his liberal peers on the committee are adamantly and unanimously opposed to such an arrangement.

“That would be a huge step backwards, and, quite frankly, so disrespectful to the survivors,” Garcia said. “She is a known abuser. She is a known liar.”

“If the DOJ or Oversight Republicans are out there trying to negotiate some sort of pardon, that is … not only a huge slap in the face to this investigation, to anyone, to the American public,” Garcia continued. “It’s a part of a massive cover-up.”

Maxwell was sentenced in 2022 to 20 years in jail for playing an active role in Epstein’s crimes. Her attorneys have pressed the White House for a pardon for several months now, though the White House has not indicated it will grant one.

But a July interview between Maxwell and the DOJ still proved incredibly fruitful for the convict, sparking concerns that she had been offered a quid pro quo in exchange for a revised “Epstein list.” At the time, the Trump administration was floundering for an opportunity to redirect public fury over the files.

Shortly after she spoke with now-acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Maxwell—one of the worst sex criminals of the century—received an extremely cushy transfer, shipping her from a Florida prison to a low-security prison camp in Texas, where she has been granted many privileges not typically afforded to inmates.

Her time behind bars has since included meal service in her cell, unlimited toilet paper, time to play with a puppy being trained as a service dog, private workout sessions, unrestricted phone access, and access to private visitations in a chaplain’s office outside standard visiting hours. Her requests to be separated from other inmates have also been granted, with tables and cellmates reportedly being relocated at her whim.

Earlier this month, one of Maxwell’s former prison mates—Real Housewives of Salt Lake City alum Jen Shah—attested to the sex trafficker’s preferential treatment, sharing with People that at times she would have to personally clean up or rearrange gym equipment for Maxwell.

Shah told the magazine that while she opted to keep her distance from the sex trafficker, she did have several conversations with her that illustrated Maxwell’s complete lack of remorse. Shah recalled that Maxwell “was just in complete disregard for” the victims of her and Epstein’s crimes, and that “there’s no remorse there.”

“She outrightly said it,” Shah said.

Did Laura Loomer Convince Rubio to Detain the Wrong Iranians?

A new report casts doubt on the State Department’s claim that it has found Qassem Soleimani’s relatives in Los Angeles.

The U.S. government may have detained two Iranian women based on false information from well-known Islamophobe and bigot Laura Loomer.

ICE arrested green card holders Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter, Sarina Hosseiny, at their home outside of Los Angeles earlier this month, alleging that they were relatives of the deceased Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani. The arrest came less than a month after Loomer called for the deportation of a woman she claimed was Soleimani’s niece.

But a new report from Drop Site, which reviewed birth records, identification papers, a family will, and other personal documents of the two women, reveals there isn’t a single connection between the women and Soleimani, who was killed by a drone strike ordered by President Trump in 2020.

These documents corroborate comments from Qassem Soleimani’s youngest daughter, Zeinab Soleimani, who told Iranian media after the women’s arrest that the State Department’s allegations were “false” and that “the individuals arrested in the United States have no connection whatsoever to our family.” Another daughter, Narjes Soleimani, said in a separate statement, “To this day, no member of the Soleimani family, nor any relative of General Soleimani, has resided in the United States.”

The mother-daughter duo appear to have gotten Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s attention thanks to Loomer. In March, Loomer wrote that she was in touch with Rubio, claiming Soleimani’s niece was “making threats against the Trump administration, posting content sympathetic to the Iranian regime and Ayatollah, celebrating missiles being launched by Iran into Israel and other Middle Eastern countries, and posting other jihadi content while she lives in extreme luxury in Los Angeles.”

After ICE detained the pair, the State Department issued a statement claiming to have revoked the green cards of “the niece and grand niece of deceased Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Major General Qasem Soleimani” and accusing them of “living lavishly in the United States.”

But the accusations of the two living a lavish lifestyle are unfounded, according to Hosseiny’s friends, who say that the mother and daughter were behind on mortgage payments and are now relying on friends to help with legal costs over their ICE detention.

Hosseiny told Drop Site that her mother was not a pro-regime operative, having been active in protest movements in Iran in the 1990s and 2000s, even spending a week in prison.

“She’s kind of a passionate person overall, and she thought that she was going to come here and be able to talk freely when she’s been threatened and imprisoned in Iran for speaking about politics, and now she’s again in prison for speaking out about politics,” Hosseiny told Drop Site.

She said the pair left Iran under duress after she took part in a dance competition in Turkey at age 12, which was aired on a satellite channel illegal in Iran. She said she was expelled from two schools over it, and conservative family members with connections to the Iranian government beat and threatened her mother. At 14, she came to the U.S. on a student visa with her mother and the pair applied for and received asylum.

Both of them have been in the South Texas ICE Processing Center for over three weeks, and Hamideh........

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