Trump offers his well wishes to accused sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell

Donald Trump.
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

President Trump on Tuesday said he has not been paying much attention to the case of Ghislaine Maxwell, the Jeffrey Epstein associate who has been charged with allegedly helping him traffic underage girls for sex, but he does "wish her well."

Last month, Trump called himself the president of "law and order" and railed against anti-racism protesters tearing down Confederate statues, but when asked about the Maxwell case during a coronavirus press conference, he took a softer stance. Trump socialized with Maxwell and Epstein in Florida, home of his Mar-a-Lago resort, and a reporter asked him if he believes Maxwell might "turn in powerful men" involved with the trafficking.

"I don't know, I haven't really been following it too much," Trump claimed. "I just wish her well, frankly. I have met her numerous times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach, and I guess they lived in Palm Beach. But I wish her well, whatever it is."

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Epstein was arrested last July and found dead in his jail cell a month later, in what was ruled a suicide. Maxwell is now being held in a New York jail, and was denied bail last week. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Catherine Garcia

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Catherine Garcia

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.