(AFP) – Jeffrey Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell will be questioned behind closed doors by the US Congress 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 videolink, 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 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.
The Trump administration has already come under criticism for its handling of her case. 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.
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.
© 2024 AFP
