Maxwell pleads 5th, offers Epstein answers for pardon

USA - DECEMBER 20: (----EDITORIAL USE ONLY - MANDATORY CREDIT - âTHE US JUSTICE DEPARTMENT / HANDOUT' - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS----) Epstein and Maxwell in one of the images released by the US Department of State The US Justice Department released thousands of records Friday related to the sex trafficking investigation into disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. The release came on the last day of the 30 days allowed by the Epstein Files Transparency Act -- legislation forcing the Justice Department action to release all documents related to the probe. (Photo by The US Justice Department / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Epstein and Maxwell in one of the images released by the Justice Department

(Image credit: The US Justice Department / Handout / Anadolu / Getty Images)

What happened

Ghislaine Maxwell, the former Jeffrey Epstein girlfriend and associate serving 20 years for sex trafficking, repeatedly invoked her “Fifth Amendment right to silence” Monday during a virtual deposition with the House Oversight Committee. Maxwell, appearing via video from her minimum-security prison camp in Texas, offered to talk only if she first received a pardon from President Donald Trump.

Who said what

Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), who first subpoenaed Maxwell in July, said it was “very disappointing” she refused to answer their “many questions” about “the crimes she and Epstein committed, as well as questions about potential co-conspirators.” Maxwell “answered no questions and provided no information about the men who raped and trafficked women and girls,” said Rep. Robert Garcia (Calif.), the committee’s top Democrat. “Who is she protecting?”

“Maxwell alone can explain why” Trump and former President Bill Clinton “are innocent of any wrongdoing,” her lawyer David Oscar Markus said during the hearing, and she is “prepared to speak fully and honestly if granted clemency by President Trump.” Maxwell is “campaigning over and over again to get that pardon,” and Trump “has not ruled it out,” said Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.). “That is why she is continuing to not cooperate with our investigation.”

What next?

Maxwell, who is “seeking to have her conviction overturned” in federal court, had “consistently told the committee that she wouldn’t answer questions,” The Associated Press said. But Comer “came under pressure to hold the deposition as he pressed for the committee to enforce subpoenas on Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.” The Clintons are scheduled to be deposed later this month, and Comer reiterated Monday that he would not honor their request for a public hearing.

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Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.