Convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, declined on Monday to respond to questions from United States lawmakers, while her legal team said she would be willing to speak if she were granted clemency by President Donald Trump.
Maxwell, 64, who is serving a 20-year federal sentence for sex trafficking, had been subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee to testify about her relationship with Epstein.
Instead of engaging with the panel, the former British socialite repeatedly invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
Footage of the deposition released by the committee showed Maxwell appearing by video from a Texas prison, seated at a table with her gaze directed downward.
Lawmakers questioned her about alleged co-conspirators, whether she and Epstein cultivated relationships with wealthy and powerful figures to “curry favor” and evade scrutiny, and whether Trump ever engaged “in sexual activity with an individual introduced to him by you or Jeffrey Epstein.”
Dressed in a plain beige prison uniform, Maxwell responded over and over with the words, “I invoke my Fifth Amendment right to silence,” prompting the committee to end the session earlier than planned.
Her attorney, David Markus, later said Maxwell would be willing to testify publicly if she were granted clemency by Trump.
“If this Committee and the American public truly want to hear the unfiltered truth about what happened, there is a straightforward path,” Markus said in a statement.
He also asserted that Trump and former president Bill Clinton, both of whom had past associations with Epstein, were “innocent of any wrongdoing.”
“Ms Maxwell alone can explain why, and the public is entitled to that explanation,” Markus added.
Maxwell remains the only individual convicted in connection with Epstein, who died in 2019 in a New York jail while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
In 2021, she was found guilty of recruiting and supplying underage girls to Epstein, whose social circle included influential business leaders, politicians, celebrities, and academics.
Her congressional deposition coincided with the Justice Department’s recent release of millions of pages of documents tied to the federal investigation into Epstein, many of them heavily redacted.
Those disclosures were mandated under the Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA), passed by Congress in November, which required the Justice Department to release all records in its possession related to Epstein.
The law directed officials to shield the names and identifying details of Epstein’s victims, who the FBI has said numbered more than 1,000.
At the same time, the EFTA barred agencies from withholding, delaying, or redacting records due to “embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary.”
On Monday, members of Congress were permitted to review unredacted versions of the files, but only through tightly controlled, in-person visits at secure Justice Department facilities.
“I saw the names of lots of people who were redacted for mysterious or baffling or inscrutable reasons,” Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democrat, told reporters, including “people who were enablers and cooperators.”
The Justice Department has indicated that it does not anticipate any new prosecutions stemming from the document release.
Representative Thomas Massie, a Republican, said he identified six men whose names were obscured in the public versions of the files and who he said “are likely incriminated by their inclusion in these files.”
Massie declined to name them but said one individual “is pretty high up in a foreign government.”
He also posted on X an explicit 2009 email exchange between Epstein and a sender whose name was redacted, discussing a “torture video.”
Massie said the correspondence appeared to involve “a Sultan” and called on the Justice Department to disclose the individual’s identity.
Speaking later on CNN, Massie said that prominent businessman Les Wexner was listed as a “co-conspirator” in a 2019 child sex trafficking case in a document he said had been improperly redacted. Wexner is the billionaire founder behind women’s apparel retailer and lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret.
The House Oversight Committee has also issued subpoenas to former president Bill Clinton and his wife, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, seeking testimony about their interactions with Epstein.
The Clintons have requested that any depositions be conducted publicly, arguing that this would prevent Republicans from politicizing the proceedings.
Trump, who was once publicly friendly with Epstein, has not been called to testify by the Republican-led committee.
