Ghislaine Maxwell pleaded the Fifth at a House Oversight Committee hearing as members of Congress started reviewing the unredacted Epstein files
Maxwell appeared virtually before the House Oversight Committee and refused to answer questions.refused to answer questions from the House Oversight Committee on Monday, but her attorney said she is “prepared to speak fully and honestly" if President Donald Trump“Only she can provide the complete account” of Epstein’s actions, David Oscar Markus said in a statement after Maxwell's brief virtual appearance before the panel in the morning, where she invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
are innocent of any wrongdoing. Ms. Maxwell alone can explain why, and the public is entitled to that explanation,” Markus said, sharing what he said he told the panel. Markus said he told committee members his client “would very much like to answer your questions,” but she “must remain silent because Ms. Maxwell has aThat would change if she's granted clemency, the statement said. Trump has not publicly ruled out pardoning Maxwell."I haven’t thought about it for months. Maybe I haven’t thought about it at all," he told reporters on Air Force One in November."I don’t talk about that. I don’t rule it in or out," he said then. Committee chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said after the brief deposition that he does not “think she should be granted any type of immunity or clemency.” Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of federal sex trafficking charges, including conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, participation in a sex-trafficking conspiracy and sex trafficking of a minor. She is serving aEpstein, a convicted sex offender, died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Maxwell is the only other person to be charged and convicted in connection wtih Epstein.to the Supreme Court last year, but the high court in October declined to hear her case. She's since launched a separate action challenging her conviction, which is pending. Under questioning by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in July, Maxwell denied the allegations against her and said she'd never seen Epsteinact inappropriately. That included Trump and Bill Clinton, who each spent time with the politically connected financier before he was first hit with criminal charges in 2006. Both Trump and Clinton have denied any wrongdoing, and neither has ever been accused by law enforcement of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein., “Here is my conclusion after sitting through Maxwell’s deposition with her refusing to answer a single question about the men who raped underage girls, saying she would only do so for clemency., saying,"A sitting Congressman wants to punish someone for invoking a constitutional right. Sending someone to harsher confinement because they invoke a constitutional right is something we associate with authoritarian regimes, not the United States Congress. Sad." The brother and sister-in-law of the late Epstein survivor Virginia Roberts Giuffre blasted Maxwell for not answering questions. “Ghislaine Maxwell, you were not a bystander. You were not ‘misled.’ You were a central, deliberate actor in a system built to find children, isolate them, groom them, and deliver them to abuse,” they wrote in a letter obtained by NBC News. “You used trust as a weapon. You targeted vulnerability and turned it into access. That is not a mistake. That is not poor judgment. That is predation.” They also urged the panel to look more deeply into Maxwell’s transfer into a lower-security prison as well as her potential inconsistencies in prior sworn testimony. “We’ll end this letter with Virginia’s last wishes for you: 'Ghislaine, you deserve to spend the rest of your life in a jail cell. Trapped in a cage forever just like you trapped your victims,'” they wrote. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the release of the final batch of files related to the Epstein case. Asked whether the public would learn the names of abusers, Blanche denied the Justice Department had a secret "client list."
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Ghislaine Maxwell to Plead Fifth to Congressional Epstein-Trump QuestionsGhislaine Maxwell plans to take the Fifth on all questions related to President Trump's association with Jeffrey Epstein during her high-stakes deposition Monday in front of Congress.
Read more »
Ghislaine Maxwell expected to invoke Fifth Amendment in congressional deposition todayGhislaine Maxwell has been called to Capitol Hill as part of Congress's investigation into the Epstein Files.
Read more »
Ghislaine Maxwell set to take the Fifth before House Oversight Committee during Epstein questioningToday's Video Headlines: 02/08/26
Read more »
Ghislaine Maxwell to face House Oversight deposition, expected to plead the FifthCongress believes the Epstein scandal exposed systematic failures and Maxwell may be one of the few people who can explain them.
Read more »
Ghislaine Maxwell pleads Fifth Amendment, dodges questions in House Oversight Epstein probeFox News Channel offers its audiences in-depth news reporting, along with opinion and analysis encompassing the principles of free people, free markets and diversity of thought, as an alternative to the left-of-center offerings of the news marketplace.
Read more »
Ghislaine Maxwell pleads the Fifth during Epstein deposition with House Oversight CommitteeToday's Video Headlines: 02/09/2026
Read more »