In a fiery letter sent to President Donald Trump on Sunday, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) alleged that convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell is being waited on “hand and foot” in federal prison and raised questions about why she’s getting such special treatment.
“Documents and information received over the last several days by this Committee indicate that under Dr. Tanisha Hall, the warden of Federal Prison Camp (FPC) Bryan, the federal law enforcement staff working at the camp have been waiting on Ms. Maxwell hand and foot,” Raskin wrote, pointing to information House Judiciary Democrats have received from a whistleblower as the source of these details.
“This top-flight luxury service has reached such a point of absurdity that one of the top officials at the prison has complained that he is ‘sick of having to be Maxwell’s bitch,’” he noted.
Spokespeople for the White House, the Justice Department, and the Bureau of Prisons did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment. Maxwell’s attorney also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Raskin’s letter comes after the administration was scrutinized for abruptly transferring Maxwell, a longtime collaborator with Jeffrey Epstein, from a federal prison in Florida to a minimum-security facility in Bryan, Texas, in late summer. At the time, the Trump administration refused to explain why it did so, prompting outcry from victims. The move also took place shortly after Maxwell was interviewed by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche amid an uproar over the Trump administration’s refusal to release its investigatory files related to Epstein, a former friend of Trump’s who was indicted on sex trafficking charges before his death in prison in 2019.
In her interview with Blanche, Maxwell said she never witnessed bad behavior by Trump during the years he and Epstein were friends.
“The president was never inappropriate with anybody,” Maxwell said, according to a transcript released by the Justice Department over the summer.
Maxwell’s attorney has said she would be happy to testify before Congress if the president would grant her clemency from the prison sentence she’s serving for her role in Epstein’s crimes. In his letter, Raskin said Democrats had learned Maxwell was working on a “commutation application” with help from prison officials.
It’s clear Trump may be favorably disposed to pardoning Maxwell, especially if she can help him distance himself from Epstein. When Maxwell was convicted in 2020, Trump said, “I just wish her well, frankly.”
Multiple examples were outlined in the letter of how Maxwell is receiving what Raskin calls “grotesque pampering” while she’s serving out a 20-year sentence at FPC Bryan for sex trafficking. Alleged instances of this treatment include customized and personally delivered meals, exercise time in staff-only areas, the ability to print and access documents easily and the opportunity to communicate with loved ones even when phone lines were down for everyone else. In one case, an inmate who trains service dogs was allegedly asked to provide Maxwell a puppy to play with for a time, though this isn’t ordinarily allowed.
Raskin, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, raised concerns about a potential “quid pro quo” arrangement in which the prison would provide special accommodations for Maxwell in exchange for her offering testimony that would protect Trump.
“What information is Ms. Maxwell agreeing to suppress to receive such outlandishly favorable treatment as a federal prisoner and convicted sex offender?” Raskin asks.
He notes that she has allegedly pursued a “commutation application” for the administration to review, adding to questions about whether the White House is open to clemency for Maxwell.
Raskin calls on Blanche to testify in Congress to respond to these allegations and urges Trump to share a response regarding his discussions of a possible commutation, the promises Maxwell made to the White House, and the accommodations she has received in prison.
“Your Administration should not be providing her with room service, with puppies to play with, with federal law enforcement officials waiting on her every need,” Raskin writes, “or with any special treatment or institutional privilege at all.”