(AFP) – Jeffrey Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell will be questioned behind closed doors by the US Congress on Monday, though she’s expected to invoke her right to not answer questions. Maxwell, currently serving 20 years in prison for trafficking girls to the disgraced financier Epstein, will face questions from prison via video-link in a deposition by the House of Representatives’ Oversight Committee.
Though no new US prosecutions are expected after the latest dump of government files on Epstein, numerous political and business leaders have fallen into scandal or resigned as their ties to the convicted sex criminal were revealed. The Republican-led House Oversight Committee is probing Epstein’s connections to powerful figures and how information about his crimes was handled. Maxwell, however, is expected to invoke her right to not incriminate herself, guaranteed in the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution.
Epstein was convicted in 2008 of soliciting a minor. His extensive ties to the world’s rich and powerful, especially after he was released in 2009, have become politically explosive across the globe. He died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial for trafficking children in what was ruled a suicide. Maxwell’s lawyers have pushed for Congress to grant her legal immunity in order to testify in the deposition, but lawmakers refused. Without that, her legal team said she would invoke her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. “Proceeding under these circumstances would serve no other purpose than pure political theater,” her lawyers said in a letter.
Though the deposition will occur behind closed doors, Representative Ro Khanna, a Democrat, published a letter of the questions he intended to ask Maxwell even if she refuses to answer. Some touch on Trump’s ties to Epstein and Maxwell. Others focus on four “co-conspirators” as well as 25 other men who allegedly “sexually abused minors at Epstein’s island.” One of the questions asks: “Why do you believe they were not indicted?” Another question claims that it is “well documented” that Maxwell, Epstein, and US President Donald Trump had a “social relationship,” citing several photographs of the trio together. It further probes whether she or Epstein ever “arranged, facilitated or provided access to underage girls” to Trump.
Beyond the trafficking charges, Maxwell will also be asked if she had any knowledge of Epstein sharing “information” with “foreign governments or intelligence services,” with Russia and Israel used as examples. As Maxwell prepares for the closed-door discussion, scrutiny of the Trump administration’s handling of her case has again come under fire. Last year, Maxwell was moved to a minimum-security prison in Texas after meeting twice with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who previously served as US President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer. Trump himself was a longtime Epstein associate but has not been called to testify by the Oversight Committee, which is led by members of his Republican Party. Trump has not been accused of criminal wrongdoing related to Epstein’s activities.
Also expected to be deposed by the committee are former president Bill Clinton and his wife, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, both Democrats. The Clintons have called for their depositions to be held publicly to prevent Republicans from politicizing their testimony.
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