Donald Trump has refused to rule out pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell after she spoke with the US Attorney General this week. She met Todd Blanche on Thursday, who is expected to meet with her again on Friday as part of the White House's attempts to uncover new information about the Jeffrey Epstein case.

Maxwell was sentenced in 2022 to 20 years in prison for carrying out a years-long scheme with Jeffrey Epstein to groom and sexually abuse underage girls. She has continued to appeal her conviction. The US President told journalists on Friday that he had not thought about pardonning Maxwell but specifically did not rule it out.

“It’s something I haven’t thought about,” he said. “I’m allowed to do it, but it’s something I have not thought about.”

Asked again if he was considering clemency for Maxwell, Trump replied: “I can’t talk about that now. … it’s very sensitive.”

Trump insisted that he had "nothing to do with" Epstein, with whom he had socialized for years before falling out with the now-dead paedophile in the mid-2000s. The US President tried to deflect attention form himslef, encouraging journalists to focus on others who, like him, had previously socialised with Epstein.

"You should focus on Clinton. You should focus on the president of Harvard, the former president of Harvard (Larry Summers), you should focus on some of the hedge fund guys,” Trump said. “I’ll give you a list. These guys lived with Jeffrey Epstein, I sure as hell didn’t.”

Maxwell's lawyer told reporters on Friday that his client had been unfairly treated for over five years, as he made his way into the courthouse.

“If you looked up scapegoat in the dictionary, her face would be next to the definition next to the dictionary definition of it,” David Oscar Markus said.

“So, you know, we’re grateful for this opportunity to finally be able to say what really happened, and that’s what we’re going to do yesterday and today.”

He added that Maxwell had “been in terrible, awful conditions for five years. We wouldn’t keep animals the way she’s been kept in prison.”

“We just ask that folks look at what she has to say with an open mind, and that’s what Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has promised us, and everything she says can be corroborated and and she’s telling the truth. She’s got no reason to lie at this point, and she’s going to keep telling the truth.”