The House Oversight Committee told NR it will not consider granting congressional immunity for her testimony.
Imprisoned sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell is demanding full immunity in exchange for congressional testimony about her activities with her longtime partner, deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, as furor continues over the Trump administration’s handling of the federal government’s files on Epstein.
Maxwell’s attorneys laid out their demands in a letter to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R., Ky.) Tuesday after the congressional panel subpoenaed her last week. The disgraced socialite is requesting full immunity along with an advance copy of the committee’s questions, according to a copy of her attorneys’ letter obtained by NR.
She does not want to hold the hearing in the federal correctional facility where she is serving her sentence because of the possibility of leaks.
Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking offenses, recently asked the Supreme Court to intervene and overturn her 2021 conviction in Manhattan. Her attorneys are asking the Oversight Committee to schedule her testimony after the Supreme Court handles her case.
If the committee does not accept Maxwell’s demands, she is prepared to invoke her Fifth Amendment right and decline to answer questions. It is unlikely the House Oversight Committee agrees to all of her terms.
“The Oversight Committee will respond to Ms. Maxwell’s attorney soon, but it will not consider granting congressional immunity for her testimony,” an Oversight Committee spokeswoman told NR in a statement.
Maxwell was Epstein’s longtime accomplice in sex trafficking vulnerable teenage girls to his various estates. She spent many years as a prominent socialite in London and New York City.
Besides her criminal proceedings, Maxwell has been involved in litigation against several women who accused her and Epstein of sexual abuse. Epstein died in a New York City prison cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He was already a convicted sex offender in Florida but served a short jail sentence after reaching a controversial deal with federal authorities.
Last week, Maxwell met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and spent several hours answering questions about Epstein and his connections. The Justice Department reportedly offered her limited immunity in exchange for freely answering Blanche’s questions.
Maxwell has been angling for a pardon from President Trump, despite her notoriety and the heinous nature of her crimes. Her attorneys claimed that Maxwell would be free to testify without restraint if given clemency. She did not testify during her criminal trial, which her attorneys attributed to the psychological toll of the jail conditions she endured in Brooklyn following her 2020 arrest.
The Trump administration is attempting to reduce the ongoing fallout from its decision not to release the government’s files related to Epstein. Trump promised to do so during the 2024 campaign because of the enduring public interest in Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation and ties to powerful elites in politics, business, and entertainment.
Upon reviewing the Epstein files, Trump’s team concluded that there was no “client list” of Epstein’s associates and no evidence he blackmailed global elites. They also determined that he committed suicide in his jail cell, upholding the official narrative that many MAGA adherents dismissed.
Epstein’s celebrity associates have already been revealed due to extensive litigation, investigations and reporting on his conduct. Trump and Epstein were pals in the 1990s and early 2000s, but Trump has never been accused of wrongdoing.
Facing an unusually strong MAGA backlash, Trump repeatedly accused his supporters of being duped by Democrats for continuing to pay attention to the Epstein files. Democrats have tried capitalizing on the backlash by pushing the administration to release the files and suggesting Trump is deliberately hiding them.
The sustained attention on the Epstein files has renewed interest in Trump’s friendship with Epstein. Trump is suing the Wall Street Journal for reporting on a letter he allegedly wrote to Epstein for his 50th birthday.
The Journal subsequently reported that Trump’s name is one of many prominent ones in the Epstein files. Trump and Epstein’s 15-year friendship ended before Epstein became a convicted sex offender and Trump has denied any wrongdoing.
MAGA rallied around Trump due to the Wall Street Journal’s reporting and Trump’s insistence that the Epstein story go away. Trump’s MAGA allies blamed Attorney General Pam Bondi for how the Epstein files were managed, citing comments she made earlier this year about having the Epstein “client list” on her desk.
Bondi sought to have a Florida federal judge unseal grand jury transcripts related to Epstein’s case, but the judge denied her request last week because of grand jury secrecy rules. The administration is also seeking the release of grand jury transcripts from Epstein and Maxwell’s New York cases.