Amna Nawaz
@PBSNewsHour·5.3M subscribers·62.2K videos
WATCH: Blanche commits that DOJ won't recommend Ghislaine Maxwell pardon
Posted
May 19, 2026
Views
544
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May 19, 2026
544
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1:05Now PlayingSen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., asked acting Attorney General Todd Blanche at a hearing Tuesday whether he’d commit that the Justice Department would not recommend a pardon for anyone named in the Jeffrey Epstein files released as part of the agency’s ongoing investigation into the late convicted sex offender.
Blanche, not directly answering the senator’s question, said there are up to hundreds of thousands of people named in the files.
Van Hollen then asked if he’d commit to not have the DOJ recommend a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend. Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison for sex trafficking minors.
“I can commit to that, of course,” Blanche said.
Blanche was invited to testify on President Donald Trump’s 2027 budget request for the Justice Department, but was expected to face questions on a number of issues.
On Monday, the Justice Department announced an “Anti-Weaponization Fund” as part of a settlement with Trump to end a lawsuit against the IRS over the leaking of his tax returns. The nearly $1.8 billion fund would offer payouts to Trump allies who claim they had been unfairly targeted by the Justice Department under the Biden administration.
Government watchdogs and Democratic lawmakers blasted the creation of the fund as corruption, saying it could reward – with taxpayer money – people who had helped storm the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, among others.
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