Ghislaine Maxwell to face closed-door House deposition; expected to invoke Fifth Amendment
Ghislaine Maxwell, serving a 20-year federal sentence for trafficking girls to financier Jeffrey Epstein, will be questioned behind closed doors by the House Oversight Committee via prison videolink — but her legal team says she will refuse to answer on Fifth Amendment grounds.
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The extraordinary deposition, part of a congressional probe into Epstein’s ties to powerful figures and the handling of information about his crimes, follows a fresh wave of government documents that have fueled political scandal and public scrutiny even as no new U.S. prosecutions are expected.
What the committee is seeking
Lawmakers on the GOP-led panel are examining how Epstein cultivated relationships with political, business and cultural leaders, and how authorities dealt with evidence of wrongdoing over the years. The committee has not detailed the scope of its questions to Maxwell, who maintains her right against self-incrimination despite her conviction and ongoing incarceration.
Epstein, convicted in 2008 of soliciting a minor, maintained extensive connections with global elites after his 2009 release. He died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges; his death was ruled a suicide.
Immunity fight sets the tone
Maxwell’s lawyers pressed Congress to grant her legal immunity in exchange for sworn testimony. Lawmakers declined, prompting her legal team to say she would invoke the Fifth. “Proceeding under these circumstances would serve no other purpose than pure political theater,” her attorneys wrote in a letter to the panel.
The committee has not indicated whether it will seek to compel further cooperation or pursue additional steps if Maxwell declines to answer questions under oath.
Political flashpoints: Trump and the Clintons
The session arrives amid criticism of how Maxwell’s case was handled in the past. Last year, she was transferred to a minimum-security facility in Texas following meetings with a senior Justice Department official who had previously represented former President Donald Trump, according to accounts cited by critics. Trump, a longtime Epstein associate, has not been called to testify by the Oversight Committee and has not been formally accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein. He has denied knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.
Also expected to be deposed by the panel are former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Bill Clinton has expressed regret over associating with Epstein and said he knew nothing of criminal activity. Hillary Clinton has said she had no meaningful interactions with Epstein, did not fly on his plane and never visited his island. The Clintons want their depositions held publicly to avoid what they call partisan spin.
Global reverberations
Epstein’s network continues to rattle political systems beyond the United States. In Britain, Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces unrest within his party after the resignation of a top aide amid questions surrounding former Cabinet minister Peter Mandelson’s interactions with Epstein. Files released by the U.S. Department of Justice apparently indicate Mandelson, then business secretary, shared material with Epstein during the fallout from the 2008 financial crisis, drawing renewed scrutiny in London.
Why it matters now
The closed-door Maxwell deposition is unlikely to resolve the most pressing public questions about how Epstein operated — and who helped him. But it underscores Congress’s intent to piece together a more complete record of the financier’s reach and the institutional failures that allowed him to offend for years. Whether Maxwell says anything beyond asserting constitutional protections may determine the next phase of the inquiry.
For now, the Oversight Committee is betting that a formal record — even of refusals to answer — will pressure other witnesses and agencies to cooperate, and will keep the political and legal ramifications of the Epstein saga in the public eye.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
