Ghislaine Maxwell has pleaded the Fifth and refused to answer questions over Jeffrey Epstein at a closed-door hearing on Capitol Hill.
The jailed British socialite appeared virtually before lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee for less than an hour on Monday.
Epstein’s longtime girlfriend was deposed as part of the bipartisan congressional investigation into the Justice Department’s prosecution and handling of the Epstein case.
Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence in Texas after she was convicted of trafficking young girls to Epstein in 2021. She is the only associate of the pedophile financier who has been jailed.
Republican Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna said ahead of the hearing they expected Maxwell to plead the Fifth.
Maxwell has come under new scrutiny after more than three million documents related to the prosecution of Epstein were released.
The documents show that Epstein had access to a large network of powerful business leaders and political figures.
Maxwell was initially subpoenaed by the Oversight Committee last year, but her attorneys told lawmakers she would not answer questions regarding Epstein.
Maxwell refused to provide information to the House Oversight Committee on Monday regarding her relationship with Jeffrey Epstein
New documents show that Epstein access to numerous powerful political figures, including former President Bill Clinton
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said he expected Maxwell to plead the Fifth Amendment
Her attorney reportedly told the committee Maxwell would not answer questions unless she received clemency from President Donald Trump.
Comer noted that the full video of Maxwell’s testimony will be released.
Trump has not indicated he would provide clemency or a pardon for Epstein’s imprisoned madam.
The Daily Mail reached out to the White House for comment.
Comer plans to schedule additional depositions with former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The Clintons initially refused to obey the subpoena, but after Comer threatened them with contempt of Congress charges, the couple agreed to sit before the committee.
Comer’s team had spent months negotiating with Maxwell’s attorney to secure her appearance before the committee.
Comer delayed her initially planned August deposition after her attorney requested waiting for a Supreme Court ruling on Maxwell’s appeal.
Epstein was known to rub shoulders with some of the wealthiest and powerful figures in the world
The Supreme Court declined to hear Maxwell’s case back in October.
Maxwell’s decision to plead the Fifth Amendment in front of House lawmaker on Monday comes months after she spoke candidly about her relationship with Epstein to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
After speaking with Blanche last year, Maxwell was moved to a minimum-security prison in Texas. She met with Blanche, who previously served as Trump’s personal lawyer.
Trump was a longtime friend of Epstein’s in the 1990s and early 2000s but expelled him from his Mar-a-Lago club for being a ‘creep’. The president has never been accused of any wrongdoing.
