News item: House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer tells Politico that members of his panel are open to a Trump pardon of Ghislaine Maxwell as a way to encourage her to provide testimony about Jeffrey Epstein.

Reaction: Oh sure, by all means grant the most notorious sex trafficking accomplice and groomer of underage girls in American history her freedom. That should help seal the fate of Republicans who go along with it for decades to come.

OK, now I know I’ve said stuff like this before. I’m also the guy who believed Trump would never get past pardoning the January 6 convicts en masse. And I apparently mistakenly thought, “Well, surely attacking the Pope – THE POPE! – has got to be a bridge too far.” I realize all too well that none of his transparent criminality has proven a deal-breaker to his brain-dead MAGA-ites. I get it.

But pardoning Epstein’s co-conspirator? I’m sorry, but I just can’t believe that could possibly fly on this or any other planet.

Transferring Maxwell to the minimum security (read: country club) prison in Bryan, Texas last year was one thing. Granting her complete freedom? Quite another.

I’m sorry, but I have to believe there is a low that’s too low even for people whose burners are no longer heating the teapot. You don’t make deals with a convicted felon to supply info on someone who is no longer alive. That’s the thing about these Epstein Files: we do not, in fact, give a rat’s backside about Epstein himself. He’s dead. That ship has more than sailed.

Those whose past abuse and complicity matter are the ones still living who could, just maybe, face justice if those shaping the narrative would permit something resembling real hearings to take place.

I can’t believe I even need to write this sentence, but absolutely nothing that exits the mouth of Maxwell should be seen as the truth. She’s a compulsive liar interested only in saving herself. Her word carries zero credibility. She’s lied before. She will lie again. And again. And again.

So, let’s stop deluding ourselves into believing the woman holds valuable information. She clearly does, but that won’t be what she would be sharing. She’s merely hoping to parlay the illusion of honesty into a Get Out of Jail Free card. Her pardon would come in exchange for shoveling nonsense that steers all lawless behavior away from a certain president and his wealthy cronies.

It's only because Maxwell has played the game of deflection and protection well that she is still alive. If she hadn’t, she would have long ago met an unfortunate end behind bars – and I’m not talking about suicide but the other kind of “cide” that starts with an “h.”

That her being sprung from captivity is even being seriously tossed out as a possibility is unfathomable.

Let’s do a quick recap of what Ms. Maxwell was convicted of in 2022 that led to her being sentenced to 20 years in federal prison:

• She identified, recruited, and groomed girls as young as 14, vulnerable teenagers with whom she built trust before shattering it by forcing them into sexual bondage.

• She trained victims to accept inappropriate conduct, often by participating in or being present during the abuse.

• She arranged travel, scheduling visits to Epstein’s homes/island and creating an environment where the molestation and rape could occur.

• She helped maintain the network by keeping victims compliant, sometimes encouraging them to recruit other girls and keep the supply chain well-stocked.

• She was a central organizer of perhaps the most egregious sex trafficking and pedophile ring ever, a person who lowered victims’ defenses through social manipulation and extended the reach and duration of Epstein’s vile operation.

• She was, throughout her decades by Epstein’s side, a shameless exploiter and far more than just an associate. She was the engine that drove the machine.

How much does Maxwell know? A whole helluva lot. How much is she willing to actually tell? Pretty much nothing. She is, once again, valueless as an information source. Her job at this point is primarily to protect Donald Trump, and if she’s successful, she will be vastly rewarded. In fact, she’s already begun collecting on her silence with the transfer to the much cushier federal lockup.

If we have learned nothing else from Trump’s time as our chief executive, it’s that loyalty isn’t just required, it’s the whole shebang. The more criminally you will cover for Trump, the greater the respect he has for you and — often, not always — the more he will do for you. Until he tosses you under the bus anyway, of course.

But would Trump really go so far as to pardon Maxwell? Absolutely. It isn’t a matter of morality, of course. Were you to look under a moral microscope into Trump’s DNA, there would be no evidence of even the smallest twinge of fiber.

No, the only reason Trump might decline to pardon, or at least delay pardoning, Maxwell has everything to do with whether the blowback might be too intense. It’s mostly a matter of timing. Once the Epstein heat has sufficiently cooled, the odds are pretty good he would see an opening.

Let’s remember that after Maxwell’s original arrest in 2022, Trump was on record saying, “I wish her well.” Really. It was a little bit like wishing Rudolf Hess well in his military tribunal at Nuremberg in 1945.

In this case, wishing Maxwell well was his coded way of saying, “Now you be a good little inmate and we’ll see about helping you out of this mess down the road. If you’re not, we’ll have to take care of you a different way.”

It’s clear that Ghislaine heard that message loud and clear. When she was “deposed” by Trump's lawyer (now Acting Attorney General) Todd Blanche, she “testified” that she never saw Trump do a single thing in Epstein’s presence. He was basically taking naps while everything was going on.

In this administration and with this president, truth is not only dead; it never existed in the first place. Lies are the only currency this corrupt regime accepts. If it ultimately gains Maxwell her freedom, it should bring them all crashing down.

Ray Richmond is a longtime journalist/author and an adjunct professor at Chapman University in Orange, CA.