Trump Hid That Ghislaine Maxwell Is Applying for a Commutation: Dems

Ghislaine Maxwell is asking Donald Trump to commute her prison sentence.

The longtime girlfriend and criminal associate of pedophilic sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein is working on a “commutation application,” according to documents obtained by the House Judiciary Committee via a whistleblower.

“Documents and information received over the last several days by this Committee … [indicate] that Ghislaine Maxwell is working on filing a ‘Commutation Application’ with your Administration—demonstrating either that Ms. Maxwell is herself requesting you release her from her 20-year prison sentence for her role as a coconspirator in Jeffrey Epstein’s international child sex trafficking ring, or that this child sex predator now holds such tremendous sway in the second Trump Administration that you and your [Justice Department] will follow her clemency recommendations,” Ranking Member Jamie Raskin wrote in a scathing memo dated Sunday.

Maxwell was transferred to a minimum-security prison camp mere days after she met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in July to help curate a new list of Epstein’s potential associates.

It was unclear at the time why the Trump administration would want to procure another list of Epstein’s associates, particularly when it already had (but refused to release) files pertaining to his investigation.

Since then, concerns have swelled among Republican lawmakers that Trump’s relationship with Epstein was even cozier than previously understood: A few conservative representatives with ties to the FBI and the Justice Department spilled last week that the true details of the Epstein files are “worse” for Trump than previously reported. In a convenient turn of events, Maxwell’s new list of Epstein associates does not include Trump’s name.

But the information exchange resulted in an extremely cushy transfer for Maxwell—one of the worst sex criminals of the century—shipping her from a Florida prison to a low-security prison camp in Texas that lawmakers have described as “not suitable for a sex offender.”

Maxwell has since raved about her new digs, celebrating the difference between the two facilities as akin to having “dropped through Alice in Wonderlands [sic] looking glass,” according to emails obtained by the House Judiciary Committee.

Maxwell was sentenced in 2022 to 20 years in jail for playing an active role in Epstein’s crimes, identifying and grooming vulnerable young women while normalizing their abuse at the hands of her millionaire boyfriend. Maxwell’s attorneys have pressed the White House for a pardon for several months now.

Trump was photographed with Maxwell several times over his long friendship with Epstein. She and Trump partied together, attended fashion shows together, and went “out on the town” together, according to a 1997 postcard.

President Donald Trump made a bad day worse for Washington Commanders fans, as he was loudly booed while making an announcement from the broadcasting booth during the game versus the Detroit Lions in Maryland on Sunday. 

The president performed an enlistment ceremony creed for new members of the military during a pause in the game. He read from a black binder, speaking into a microphone. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stood close by, as the president was booed nonstop for over two minutes.  

“Please raise your right hand. I—and state your name—do solemnly swear, that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic,” Trump said.

The boos could be heard clearly, even on Fox’s official broadcast, and Trump had to pause multiple times in that short statement. In video taken from fans in the stands, middle fingers and jeers can be seen and heard from Lions fans and Commanders fans alike. 

Trump was the first sitting president to go to an NFL game in almost 50 years, with the last being Jimmy Carter in 1978. 

The president made an appearance on the Fox NFL television broadcast, joining Kenny Albert and Jonathan Vilma in the booth afterward, talking about his relationship with football, which he played in high school. He also brought up his role in building the Commanders’ new stadium, which he reportedly wants named after him. 

“They’re going to build a beautiful stadium. That’s what I’m involved in, we’re getting all the approvals and everything else,” he said. “And you have a wonderful owner, Josh (Harris) and his group. And you’re going to see some very good things.”

This is just one of many sporting events that the president has made a point to show face at, making himself known at UFC fights, the Daytona 500, the U.S. Open, and the Ryder Cup. Trump has even promised a UFC fight on the White House lawn next summer. 

Trump’s presence may have been a death stroke for the Commanders, as they lost to the Lions 44–22, falling to 3–7 on the season. 

Senator Chuck Grassley isn’t able to read like he used to.

The 92-year-old had difficulty parsing a prewritten statement on the demerits of Obamacare subsidies Sunday night.

“So everybody else that depends upon the subsidy for Obamacare, I want to make very clear to them that the pre-premium subsides for individuals and families under 400 percent of the federal poverty lever that existed prior to Covid are permanent law, and those people will not be affected because that permit of law is not being changed by anything that we’re debating here today,” Grassley said.

Grassley’s slip comes just a few weeks after the senator, who is third in line for presidential succession, struggled to understand a reporter’s question and gave a completely unrelated answer.

More than 20 percent of U.S. lawmakers are over the age of 70. That includes 86 members of the House and 33 senators, making the current Congress the oldest in U.S. history.

Calls for aging government officials to retire have grown louder in recent years, particularly after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2020. Ginsburg remained on the Supreme Court until she passed despite an advanced pancreatic cancer diagnosis, providing Donald Trump the opportunity to replace her.

Representatives Gerry Connolly and Dianne Feinstein also died in office, leaving Democrats short on critical votes in the wake of their deaths.

Last week, after years of mounting pressure related to her age, Representative Nancy Pelosi announced she will not seek reelection. The longtime Democratic leader will exit when her term expires in 2027—at 87 years old—after 39 years in office.

Despite public clamor to make American politics young again, no branch of government appears to be safe from the seniority stripe. Last year, voters elected Trump to become the oldest president in U.S. history, and he attended his second inauguration at nearly 79 years old.

Meanwhile, this aging class of politicians is drafting the future of the country—one that, thanks in part to Grassley’s efforts, will not include Affordable Care Act subsidies. The government shutdown ended Sunday after 40 grueling days of deadlock on the merits of the ACA’s enhanced premium tax credits, which assist individuals making upward of 400 percent of the federal poverty level. It was the longest federal suspension in U.S. history.

Eight Senate Democrats caved to Donald Trump and voted to approve a budget deal with Republicans to end the government shutdown, angering their colleagues in Congress as well as their own party’s base. 

These eight senators, including independent Angus King who caucuses with the party, are all either retiring or up for reelection years from now. They likely feel that they won’t have to pay an electoral cost for failing to stand up for Democrats’ goal of extending health care subsidies, instead settling for a future vote on the matter.  

The full list of these Democrats is below: 

• Senator Richard Durbin (Illinois, retiring)
• Senator Angus King (Maine, term ends in 2030)
• Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (Nevada, term ends in 2028)
• Senator Jacky Rosen (Nevada, term ends in 2030)
• Senator Maggie Hassan (New Hampshire, term ends in 2028)
• Senator Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire, retiring)
• Senator John Fetterman (Pennsylvania, 2028)
• Senator Tim Kaine (Virginia, 2030)

The conservative-majority Supreme Court denied a challenge Monday to its landmark same-sex marriage ruling.

The Supreme Court rejected a long-shot petition from Kim Davis, a former Kentucky county clerk who refused to sign marriage licenses for gay and lesbian couples following the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling. Davis was seeking to overturn the decision that had legalized same-sex marriage.

Davis had appealed the $360,000 she was ordered to pay after refusing to grant a marriage license to David Ermold and David Moore, a same-sex couple, because she was acting “under God’s authority.”

When the two men pointed out that she had given marriage licenses to “murderer[s], rapists, and people who have done all kinds of horrible things,” Davis responded that “that was fine because they were straight,” according to court filings.

Three of the four justices who dissented from Obergefell are still on the court, helping to make up today’s 6–3 conservative majority, which tends to react with hostility to judicial precedent. But it seems that the court’s 2015 ruling will for now remain intact.

Davis’s appeal failed to explain why overturning Obergefell was necessary to resolve her case. While her suit quoted lengthily from the conservative justices who criticized the ruling, overturning the ruling was not the central thrust of her legal arguments to the court.

Davis had also asked the court to decide whether she had “qualified immunity” from denying the marriage licenses because same-sex marriage wasn’t really a “clearly established right,” even after the Supreme Court’s ruling. She’d previously asked the court to restore her qualified immunity defense after the Sixth Circuit agreed with a district court that that defense did not apply in this case. The Supreme Court declined.

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority likely does want to overturn Obergefell—Justice Clarence Thomas has made as much clear—but this case contained far too many questions to do it. If the court were to overturn its own landmark ruling, then it would likely be in the most straightforward case possible.

This story has been updated.