The Trump administration's decision to subpoena Ghislaine Maxwell for testimony should be viewed with skepticism, according to one former federal prosecutor.
Trump has sought a way out of the mess created by the Jeffrey Epstein saga for more than two weeks. The administration's latest attempts include subpoenaing Maxwell, Epstein's former associate, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for helping Epstein sex traffic young girls across the country.
The hope is that Maxwell will testify about the ties between Democrats and Epstein, thereby shielding Trump from continued criticism over his administration's handling of the Epstein files.
But getting credible testimony from Maxwell could be more difficult than it seems, former prosecutor Elie Honig told CNN's Jake Tapper on Tuesday.
"The odds of her becoming a full and proper, fully vetted, fully credible, DOJ cooperating witness are extremely remote because two things have to happen," Honig said. "First, Ghislaine Maxwell has to have a complete turnaround from everything that she said and done in her whole life. She's spent the majority of her adult life committing heinous crimes."
Maxwell was indicted with Epstein in 2019 for child sex trafficking and other charges. She was prosecuted for about four years, during which time she did not admit to anything and committed perjury, Honig said.
"In addition to that, DOJ prosecutors have to get to a point where they are satisfied that Ghislaine Maxwell is telling them everything she knows about everything wrong that everybody has ever done. That she's pulling no punches," Honig continued.
"I'm not soft-hearted to cooperators. I cooperated with some really bad people. But the notion of banking a case on Ghislaine Maxwell would keep me up at night," Honig added.
