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In reply to the discussion: Rep Swalwell tweets that Trump just "dangled" a pardon for sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell [View all]localroger
(3,626 posts)And while Trump has proven willing and able to trash many institutions, some remain independent. Roger Stone proclaimed loyalty to Trump, and Trump learned with Joe Arpaio that there is a down side to a pardon, which is why he commuted Roger's sentence instead -- better to be a felon than be compelled to testify, after all. That he did it that way suggests that Stone could have been compelled to testify if pardoned and that this was worth worrying about. Ghislaine has not proclaimed loyalty to anybody except Epstein and probably has a lot more Epstein dirt to make public than Stone ever dreamed of.
The way prosecutions work is that a witness can get off lightly if they produce a bigger fish, but with Epstein's death Maxwell is now the biggest fish herself in the whole Epstein network. The only way she can buy her way out is to offer up something even bigger, or to threaten the right people with a willingness to do so.