Ghislaine Maxwell declined to answer questions from a House committee, citing 5th Amendment rights
WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers tried to interview Ghislaine Maxwell on Monday, but Jeffrey Epstein’s ex-girlfriend and confidant invoked her Fifth Amendment rights to avoid answering questions that would incriminate her.
Maxwell was to be questioned during a video call from the federal prison camp in Texas, where she is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking. He has come under new scrutiny as lawmakers try to investigate how well-connected financier Epstein was able to sexually abuse underage girls for years.
At a time when Epstein’s abuse has spread to countries around the world, lawmakers are searching for people with ties to him who may have facilitated his abuse. Some also planned Monday to look at unredacted versions of the Epstein files that the Justice Department released last year to comply with a law passed by Congress.
Maxwell is seeking to have his conviction overturned, arguing that he was wrongfully convicted. The Supreme Court rejected his appeal last year, but in December requested that a federal judge in New York consider what his lawyers described as “substantial new evidence” that his trial was overturned for constitutional violations.
Citing that petition, Maxwell’s attorney told lawmakers she would be willing to testify that neither President Donald Trump nor former President Bill Clinton committed wrongdoing in their dealings with Epstein, according to both Democratic and Republican lawmakers who emerged from the closed-door meeting.
Democrats argued that Maxwell’s claim was an effort to appeal to Trump for a presidential pardon.
“It’s very clear that he’s campaigning for clemency,” said Rep. Melanie Stansbury, a New Mexico Democrat.
Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the committee’s Republican chairman, said Maxwell’s refusal to participate in the testimony was “very disappointing.”
Comer subpoenaed him last year, but his lawyers repeatedly told the committee he would not answer questions. But Comer came under pressure to withhold the testimony as he pressured the committee to subpoena Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. They both agreed to testify later this month after Comer threatened them with contempt of Congress charges.
Comer had been negotiating with the Clintons over whether that testimony would occur at a public hearing, but Comer reiterated Monday that he would insist on testifying behind closed doors and would later release the transcripts and video.
