WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers tried to interview Ghislaine Maxwell on Monday, but Jeffrey Epstein’s ex-girlfriend and confidante invoked her Fifth Amendment rights to avoid answering questions that could lead to self-incrimination.
Maxwell will be questioned during a video call from the federal prison camp in Texas, where she is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking. Epstein has come under new scrutiny as lawmakers try to investigate how the well-connected financier was able to sexually abuse underage girls for years.
Amid the reckoning over Epstein’s abuse, lawmakers are looking for anyone who had ties to Epstein and may have facilitated his abuse. Some also plan to view Monday unredacted versions of documents on Epstein released by the Justice Department to comply with a law passed by Congress last year.
Maxwell has been seeking to have her conviction overturned, arguing she was wrongly convicted. The Supreme Court rejected her appeal last year, but in December asked a federal judge in New York to consider what her lawyers called “substantial new evidence” that her trial was undermined as unconstitutional.
An attorney for Maxwell cited the petition and told lawmakers she was willing to testify that neither President Donald Trump nor former President Bill Clinton committed wrongdoing in their relationship with Epstein, according to Democratic and Republican lawmakers who exited the closed-door meeting.
Democrats believe Maxwell’s comments were an attempt to appeal for clemency from President Trump.
“It’s clear she’s fighting for clemency,” said Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M.
Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the committee’s Republican chairman, said Maxwell’s refusal to participate in the testimony was “very disappointing.”
Cuomo subpoenaed her last year, but her attorneys have consistently told the committee she would not answer questions. However, Cuomo is under pressure to withhold testimony as he urges the committee to enforce subpoenas against Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. They all agreed to testify later this month after Cuomo threatened them with contempt of Congress.
Cuomo has been haggling with the Clintons over whether the testimony should be held in public hearings, but Cuomo reiterated Monday that he would insist on holding closed-door testimony and release transcripts and video later.
