Republicans just proved Ghislaine Maxwell is 'holding all the cards' against Trump: expert

A cadre of House Republicans just proved that Ghislaine Maxwell is "holding all of the cards" against President Donald Trump as she seeks to "extract" a pardon from him, according to one expert.

Allison Gill, host of "The Breakdown" podcast, argued during a new episode on Sunday that by admitting they support pardoning Maxwell — the accomplice of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — in exchange for her testimony, the small group of House Republicans revealed how much leverage she has over Trump in the negotiations.

"All of a sudden, Republicans on the [House] Oversight Committee are pushing for Maxwell to get a pardon in exchange for her testimony," Gill said, referring to recent reporting from Politico. "Clemency she doesn't even really need, because unless you murdered somebody, the statute of limitations on her crimes has likely tolled. That's pretty wild timing."

She added that the move put Trump in a "politically horrible" situation.

"Her lawyer had said that she would only speak if granted clemency, a power available solely to Donald Trump, who has not ruled out the prospect of a pardon this whole time. He never ruled it out," Gill said. "Now, [Rep. James] Comer (R-KY) himself says he's not in favor of a pardon, but he refused to name the members who are. And it seems to me that Trump does not want to pardon Maxwell. It's politically horrible."