Ghislaine Maxwell to testify to lawmakers in Epstein investigation

Jeffrey Epstein's convicted accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, will testify in February as Congress continues to investigate Epstein's alleged sex-trafficking network, James Comer, chair of the House Oversight Committee, said on Jan. 21.

Members of Congress and large segments of the public have been eager to hear revelations from Maxwell about Epstein and others who may have been involved in his crimes. Epstein was convicted in 2008 of two Florida prostitution offenses, including one involving minors. He died in a Manhattan jail in 2019 while awaiting a federal sex-trafficking trial.

However, Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, indicated he didn't expect Maxwell to be forthcoming, even if he hoped to be proven wrong.

"Her lawyers have made it clear that she’s going to plead the Fifth," Comer said, referring to a criminal defendant's constitutional right, under the Fifth Amendment, to protection against self-incrimination. The right allows defendants to remain silent under questioning.

"I hope she changes her mind," Comer added.

Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 of sex-trafficking a minor to Epstein, will face the grilling on Feb. 9 in a deposition. That is typically a closed proceeding, but the House Oversight Committee could release the transcript afterwards.

Even if Maxwell chooses to answer questions from lawmakers, her past statements suggest she's unlikely to incriminate others. When the Justice Department interviewed Maxwell at length in July under an agreement that what she said couldn't be used against her, she didn't provide any bombshells, and she maintained her own innocence.

Maxwell was transferred out of a federal prison in Florida and into a lower-security facility in Texas after that interview.

After Comer issued a subpoena for Maxwell's testimony in July, one of her attorneys said in a letter that, unless President Donald Trump granted her clemency, she wouldn't be willing to testify until her appeals against her conviction were over. Those proceedings are ongoing. Even afterward, she would want immunity for her testimony and an advance look at the questions, her lawyer said.