President Donald Trump denied considering a pardon for convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, telling reporters he "hasn't thought about it" while acknowledging he has the power to do so. But CNN anchor Erin Burnett fired back Friday evening on her show, highlighting a montage of Trump’s past comments echoing similar pardon sentiments — for people whom he later granted clemency.
Trump told reporters earlier in the day he hadn't considered pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell, who's serving a 20-year sentence in connection with Jeffrey Epstein's sex crimes.
“It’s something I haven’t thought about. It’s really — it’s not recommended,” he said. “It’s something I’m allowed to do, but it’s something I have not thought of.”
The statement caught Burnett's attention.
"All right. Well, he says he hasn’t thought about it. But of course, in the context of everything that’s going on right now, I mean, come on. He also knows Maxwell personally."
She played a clip of his words after her arrest in 2020, in which Trump said, “I do wish her well. I’m not looking for anything bad for her.”
Burnett told viewers it's "very important to listen closely to Trump’s words about pardoning Maxwell."
She repeated his statement, “This is not the time to be talking about pardons," and “I haven’t thought about it.”
"Some people might say that means he hasn’t thought about it and he’s not opening the door," said Burnett. "Okay. Well, those exact words do, though, sound very familiar."
She played a damning clip of Trump echoing those comments about possibly pardoning ex-officials Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort and Roger Stone.
“I don’t want to talk about pardons for Michael Flynn yet,” he said in the first clip.
In a second clip, a reporter asks, "Will you pardon Paul Manafort?“
To which Trump replies, "I have not even given it a thought as of this moment."
In a third clip, Trump is asked: "Roger Stone — are you going to pardon him, sir? He’s been convicted of felonies."
Trump echoes the line.
"Am I going to pardon him? Well, I hadn’t thought of it. I think it’s very tough what they did to Roger," he replied.
"Flynn, Manafort, and Stone were all eventually pardoned by Trump," Burnett noted.
Watch the damning clip below or at this link.
