Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche made it clear on Tuesday that under his leadership, the Justice Department would not endorse a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year sentence for her role in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operations. During a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing, when questioned by Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Blanche firmly stated, “I can commit to that, of course.”

While the decision to pardon Maxwell ultimately lies with President Donald Trump—who has not dismissed the possibility—Maxwell's legal team remains hopeful. Her attorney has expressed confidence in securing a pardon to mitigate her sentence, despite Blanche's opposition.

Blanche, who interviewed Maxwell last summer at a Florida U.S. attorney’s office, reported that Maxwell denied seeing any improprieties involving Trump and expressed admiration for his "extraordinary achievement." Following the interview, Maxwell was controversially relocated to a minimum security prison camp, a move that many critics deemed a reward from the administration. Blanche defended this decision by citing concerns for Maxwell's safety.

The hearing also addressed another sensitive issue: the mishandling of the Epstein files by the Department of Justice. Under Senator Patty Murray’s (D-Wash.) scrutiny, Blanche apologized for the department's failure to adequately redact victims' identities and occasionally their explicit images in the release of these documents. “Any time we release a victim’s name that shouldn’t be released, we have failed as a Department of Justice,” Blanche admitted, acknowledging the anger and frustration caused by these oversights.

Blanche explained the monumental task of reviewing over six million documents within a mere 30 days, mandated by a new law aimed at expediting the disclosure of all Epstein-related records. Despite their efforts, Blanche conceded that errors were made, affecting 0.001 percent of the files. “It required us to review over six million pieces of paper in a very short period of time, and so, 0.001 percent, we made mistakes, and we owned up to them,” he reiterated.

As the situation unfolds, all eyes will remain on the White House to see if President Trump will heed the advice of his acting attorney general or choose a different course of action regarding Maxwell’s potential pardon.