Bulwark Takes - Is Trump Considering PARDONS for Sex Offenders?

Episode Date: October 7, 2025

Tim Miller and Sam Stein take on Donald Trump’s bizarre response when asked about Ghislaine Maxwell—pretending not to know her, name-dropping Puff Daddy, and dodging questions about pardoning a convicted sex trafficker. Get 30% off your first order from Soul at https://GetSoul.com with promo code BULWARKTAKES.

Grab a coffee and discover non-stop action with BudMGM Casino. Check out our hottest exclusive. Friends of one with Multi-Drop. Once even more options. Play our wide variety of table games. Or head over to the arcade for nostalgic casino thrills only available at BetMGM. Download the BetMGM Ontario app today. 19 plus to wager, Ontario only.

Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connix Ontario at 1866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. But MGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. Hey, everybody. It's Tim Miller from the bulwark with managing editor, Sam Stein, Vile and Repugnant here again, together with you. Is it going to be a thing? I don't think so. No, I don't know. I'm kind of into it today. The, uh, well, we can make the tease, Violin repugnant with a little faces.

That's a good, good merch. Yeah, that could be a good merch on it. I don't know. Who would wear that, though, I think would be the problem. Um, I would imagine. Um, your wife. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, I'm not going to do any follow-ups there. We are, we're taking this video after hours. I'm sure she's thrilled. Let's get to the news. Donald Trump was asked in the Oval Office, a beautiful gold Oval Office. Quite beautiful.

I just redecorated. Hey, you're a fan of it. I know. I love Brothel Sheik, you know, better than Protestant drab. And he was asked about Jolene Maxwell. You all know Jolene Maxwell. Well, everybody knows Julian Maxwell, Donald Trump was pictured more times with John Maxwell than I've been pictured with some of my aunts.

And he was asked about how she had another appeal that was rejected and whether he would consider a pardon. And his response was pretty noteworthy. I guess I want to watch it, but Sam, do you want to point people to anything to look for in particular? It was like three things in the response that are worth pointing out. Let's just watch it first. Let's just watch.

The Supreme Court is back. And they rejected today at an appeal by the Lane Maxwell to overturn her conviction. That means her only chance at getting out of prison is a pardon from you. Is that something you're... Who are we talking about? Billy Maxwell. You know, I haven't heard the name in so long. I can say this, that I'd have to take a look at it.

I would have to take a look. Did they reject that? She wanted to appeal her conviction. And what happened? They said that they were not going to hear her appeal. I see. Well, I'll take a look at it. I will speak to the DAJ.

I wouldn't consider it or not consider it. I don't know anything about it. But I will speak to the DAJ. be a candidate for clumsy sir i don't know i mean i'd have to speak to the doj i'll look at it i'll i have a lot of people have asked me for pardons uh uh i call them puff daddy has asked me for a pardon but she was convicted of child sex trafficking yeah i mean i'm gonna have to take a look at it i have to ask doj i didn't know they rejected it i didn't know she was even asking for it frankly ste who who what was that name again jislin jislin who was she had was she a

a Laco member? Or was that a he? It's just like the Trump is like, who was that you're talking about? It's a name I haven't heard in a long time. It's like your deputy attorney general just had a meeting with her like four weeks ago. She got moved to a club fed prison.

It's in the news. It's all over the news. It gets mentioned quite often. It's all part of the Epstein coverup that he's working on that people you ask him about. What do you think is happening there? Is that just? I mean, what is he doing?

So there's like a couple ways you could interpret it, I guess. One is, I mean, either he's like having like a stroke. He's like stroking out and just like can't remember this, which I don't think is actually happening. Let's just be clear about that. The other one is he's just trying to play coy, which he's not doing it pretty artfully at all. Like it's pretty obvious that he's like, oh yeah, who's that? I mean, he's just doing his classic like little cat and mouse game. where he's dangling the idea of a pardon.

It's funny, it just normal human beings would be like, no, I'm not going to pardon a convicted sex criminal. Like, you know, absolutely not. But not Donald Trump. Donald Trump will never commit to not not pardoning someone. Yeah, I mean, famously you remember what happened in the last term when he was asked by Jill and Maxwell. So you thought this might have stuck in his head.

Let's watch that one as well. I don't know. I haven't really been following it too much. I just wish her well, frankly. He just wishes her well. You know, he just wished her well back then. And now he doesn't remember who she is. Who is that?

Back then, he was wishing her well. Never is it like, this is one of the most notorious underage child sex traffickers in the country. She is horrific, and I hope that she experiences the consequences of her actions. If someone asked you that, you'd be like, how dare you? Why would you assume that I would ever do something? Think about the difference in the way Donald Trump talks about Jilline Maxwell versus how he talks about, like, random, migrants you know it's like like they are they're poisoning the blood of the country they're vicious criminals they've got cantalope thighs they must be uh sent out of the country um you know

what they're their asylum they should be in an asylum because he doesn't know it asylee and so so these are the worst of the worst vicious horrible any any migrant that he gets asked about jeline migrants the thing about we talking about like mark milly it's like What are we talking? Like, what a loser, traitorous. Much harsher words for decorated veterans like Mark Millie, who just went up, hold the Constitution than for child sex traffickers. That is not where they...

But that wasn't even like the only thing in there, though. Yeah, there's one that I wanted to point out. I want to put out one thing. Did he met my dad? He called him? Yeah, that's what caught my ears. So, you know, if you want to go with the stroke explanation, the Donald Trump just has dementia, he has early onset.

dimension he doesn't know he forgets that name it doesn't ring a bell i i can understand how some people would like to go that way there's there's an appetite out there for people wanting don't trump to have early on set dimension not here but you know i just sense that out in the world um i don't think that's it though um and uh and i think that the key tell as you'd say at the poker table the uh teddy kgb eating the oreo there was that when asked about one child sex trafficker. Out of nowhere, he brings up another sexual criminal that is in the news that wants a pardon. You know, it's like in his head, they are, they're attached. He's probably impressed. He's like, so many people are calling me for part. It's Pete Daddy, you might be

aware. I call him Puff Daddy. Yeah. Next is going to be like, Bill Cosby just called me the other day. Wanted to hang out, but, you know, I'm not going to commit to doing it. I like that Caitlin Collins, back to Jolay and Maxwell, she was like, but she was convicted of child sex trafficking. He's like, yeah, I mean, I'm going to have to look at it. We'll talk to the DOJ. We'll talk to Todd Blanche. We've got a new takeout at thebork.com from Will Somer today. You read it yet? I've not read it yet. You edited it. Tell me, give us a little tease that Maga's not happy at Todd Blanche. Why? Well, it has nothing to do with Maxwell. That's okay. So Todd Blanchege was.

involved obviously in interviewing Maxwell got her a cushy new gig or gig a cushy new prison um she probably has a new gig in prison i mean i you know she's probably doing something much more appealing and like the yeah you know before it was the laundry or something and maybe now it's like gardening yeah i guess uh i i don't have any expertise in that uh so they're mad at him though because tina peters who is like one of these stop the steel uh convicts in colorado your old neck of the woods uh state prison i know a lot about tina peters yeah state prison can't be pardoned so trump's hands are a little bit tied there they want apparently they want him to just claim that she's a witness in a federal case unspecified what case so that she could then be transferred to federal prison

at which point Donald trump could partner like it's like a five-step process they want Todd blanche to and he's not doing it and so like Alex Jones and other people are now just pissed at Todd blanche and being like he's a mole he's a deep state or you know get rid of this guy. Usual shit. Bullwork takes is sponsored by Seoul. After a long day, I used to pour a glass of, you know, Pino, maybe a Sauvignon Blanc, a Riesling if I was getting really crazy. But lately, I've been reaching out for Seoul's out-of-office gummies and drinks instead. This is my favorite federally legal way to unwind and ease into the evening. And I do it all without the alcohol or the next day fog. Soul is a wellness brand that believes feeling good, should be fun, and that should

be easy. Soul specializes in delicious. Hemp-derived THC and CBD products designed to boost your mood and help you unwind. Their best-selling out-of-office gummies were designed to provide a mild relaxing buzz that gives you a little lift and it enhances your creativity and relaxation. With five different strengths, you can tailor the dose to fit your vibe from a gentle 1.5 milligram microdose, good for evening parenting, if I do say so, to their newest 15 milligram gummy for a more elevated experience. And if you like their out-of-office gummies, try their new out-of-office beverage, a refreshing alcohol-free alternative that's perfect for winding down on the couch or socializing with friends. Soul also has a variety of products specifically designed to help you get a better

night's rest, including their top-selling sleepy gummies. It's a fan favorite for deep restorative sleep. I need those. I got to have those. Bring on the good vibes and treat yourself to sold today right now soul is offering our audience 30% off your entire order 30% off can't beat it go to get sold.com and use the code bulwark takes that's get sold.com promo code bullwork takes for 30% off interesting well I wish him the best um as Donald Trump might say um the uh all right sand anything else in the other I guess I have one last question for you sure because this is somewhere that that Sarah and I disagree on, which is pretty rare.

Because she usually Sarah and I aligned versus JVL. Yeah. But in this case, it's Sarah and I that are misaligned. And she, she's like pretty bullish on Epstein and this whole saga, this whole cover up being something that is going to be a millstone around Trump's neck for a while now politically, a real one. And I just, I remain pretty skeptical of that. I think that there are some gains that he could make over this still.

And I think that the Democrats will have oversight and there'll be more revelation. So I'm not saying it's a nothing burger. But I just think that our expectations of like how big of a deal it is, maybe a little bit out of whack. What do you put on your analyst tap? How big of a deal is that? Can I take a middle ground? Sure.

Obviously. Yeah. I think, first of all, any issue that kind of dominates the, conversation for a month and a half, which is what happened over the summer, is significant, right? Especially in this type of climate where Trump's making crazy news every day. Like, the fact that Epstein was talked about for a month and a half is significant. I think, you know, you and I've talked about this. But like, this is a game about attrition in time. And if you take a month and a half and you chop it off, like that for Democrats is obviously a victory. At the same time,

I'm like, I just don't know that people are going to, like, maybe there's a portion of the elector who was like super conspiracy outled and think Trump is now part of it and they won't vote, but that's like the extent of it. I think on the larger political implications, I'm sort of leaning towards you. Like, it just doesn't really register necessarily voters. And I think, I don't even think Democrats believe that it does because if it did, they would probably be fundraising more off of it and focusing more on it. I think they think it's a huge distraction for Trump in it.

and it like gets him mad and they like to like take him off his game and for that it's got utility yeah i just want to be clear i i don't think it's nothing i think i think i don't think yeah it's a vulnerability for trump for sure and it's and he's obviously covering up and like and how big of deal it is eventually it's material it's so weird this gets back to this the oval offish stuff is like why does he act i mean maybe he is covering something up but he also just acts so strange and like self-incriminating in these moments like why not just say no i'm not going to pardon jelaine maxill or say that's not a decision i'm going to make like i'm leaving up to the department of justice or any normal shit like why can't he just do that what is like the lack of

capacity to do that he's off kilter on it which is also not right nothing yeah but how do you explain that um is it just guilt i guess may i don't know yeah i mean i think that there's a bit of exasperation that he has I mean like the other thing you now we're really getting into Trump psychology which I don't love to do but like he's gotten away with some a thousand plus sexual assaults at least that are credibly alleged against him how many I mean like many people have credibly alleged sexual assault and harassment against him many women he got away with them this was something like kind of from his distant past like it is true of Trump that like like there was there's kind of a posse around epstein after he got out of prison and that that was like not not trump it doesn't mean the trump wasn't doing bad stuff with epstein before that he clearly was at some level like involved with epstein in a way that was gross like what exactly that level is is you know i think remains to be seen so to me this is just like he's kind of like it was like 20 years ago and we were having i went with this guy who's kind of creep and we had pin up parties with girls and bikinis and like the line is like it's really like it's really

Palm Beach in the 90s, right? Yeah, right. I think that there's like a little bit of that. And maybe there's also a little bit of nervousness and worries that because he, if anybody knows what's in there, it's him and he doesn't want it out. Like if it was just guys being guys in the 90s, then why wouldn't he just want it out, you know? It's humiliating. That there's that.

It's pretty humiliating to see your note to Epstein with the pubic hair signed. Maybe he has that. Does he have capacity for humiliation? I don't know. Anyway, we'll find out more. Julian Maxwell, maybe getting pardoned. TBD, Donald Trump acting crazy as fuck, talking about it. And we'll be back tomorrow for another edition of Oval Office press conferences.

See what we got then. I'm here with Sam Sat. We've got a cabinet meeting coming up this week. I know. I got a hydrate for that one. Three hours of just a fuse of praise for Donald Trump. All right. We'll see how much of that I can handle.

Thanks, everybody. Subscribe to the feed. We'll be seeing you all soon. Right.