Dershowitz Asks Trump for a Maxwell Pardon
“I’m not commenting on any contact I may have had with anybody.”
When Alan Dershowitz was on Jeffrey Epstein’s legal team back in 2008, he managed to negotiate an exculpatory non-prosecution deal for the late billionaire pedophile.
But Dershowitz’ advocacy for his deceased client and his living associates hasn’t waned in enthusiasm since Epstein’s suspicious 2019 death, ruled a suicide, in a Manhattan federal prison.
As recently as 2021, according to a recent report in The Sunday Times, Dershowitz was lobbying former president Donald Trump for a preemptive pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime partner in romance and crime.
Maxwell was convicted just before the end of the year on numerous counts, including child sex trafficking, and awaits sentencing in a Brooklyn detention center as questions swirl about whether or not a new trial will have to be held.
Her lawyers accuse at least one juror of having lied on his juror selection questionnaire, following comments he made to multiple media sources after the verdict.
According to the Sunday Times report, Trump became interested in what Maxwell might say to prosecutors after Dershowitz discussed Maxwell’s case with him while she was in prison awaiting trial.
Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency, Michael Wolff’s gossipy 2021 book about the last days of the Trump presidency, also floated an anecdote about Trump’s preoccupation with Maxwell.
“Has she said anything about me?” the book reported him wondering. “Is she going to talk? Will she roll on anybody?”
Dershowitz, said the Sunday Times, had discussed the idea of asking for a pardon with one of Ghislaine’s brothers.
The Sunday Times spoke with Ian Maxwell, the brother who has represented the Maxwell family in the media since her arrest in July 2020.
“There was one phone call,” Ian Maxwell told the paper, “between Professor Dershowitz and a family member during which the generic issue of pardons was touched on.”
“Maxwell added that Dershowitz was not explicitly asked, nor volunteered, to raise the matter with Trump, and that any resulting contact with him was purely incidental.”
The Sunday Times asked a source “if it would be correct to say [Dershowitz] raised the Maxwell case with Trump.”
“It would not be unreasonable to report that,” the source told the paper.
Footnotes talked with Dershowitz on the phone earlier in the day. He wouldn’t confirm or comment on which of the Maxwell brothers he’d talked with.
“I’m not commenting on any contact I may have had with anybody,” he said.
He refused to comment “regarding any pardons, period. I can just tell you, the story as it appears is not accurate.”
Footnotes also talked with Dershowitz about the ongoing Giuffre vs. Dershowitz libel case.
Virginia Giuffre filed that case against Dershowitz in April 2019 after he claimed that she had conspired with her attorneys to accuse Dershowitz publicly, and in his account, falsely, as part of a plot to extort money from Ohio Billionaire Leslie Wexner. Giuffre accused Wexner privately of having sexually abused her back in 2014.
A letter filed by Dershowitz’ attorney Christian G. Kiely on January 4th revealed that Dershowitz had deposed Wexner for a period no longer than an hour. That was one of five depositions he’s taken already.
Asked if he himself had deposed Wexner, or if it had been one of his attorneys who’d done the questioning, Dershowitz was mum.
“I can’t tell you,” he said. “All of it’s sealed, so I can’t comment on it.”
Dershowitz’s letter also announced his desire to depose Carolyn, who’d testified in the US. vs Maxwell trial.
“Carolyn’s testimony contradicts Plaintiff’s allegations that she was a victim of rather than a co-conspirator in Epstein’s sex trafficking operation, and speaks to her reputation as an advocate for sex trafficking victims which she claims Prof. Dershowitz has wrongfully injured,” alleged the letter.
Asked if he thought Carolyn would be willing to cooperate with him, Dershowitz, sounding tired, said “I don’t know. I’ve had no contact with her.”