House committee shelves plans to interview Ghislaine Maxwell as she hints at pleading the Fifth

The House Oversight Committee is shelving plans to depose a convicted sex offender, Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirator and confidant, after she conveyed to the lawmakers that she would plead the Fifth.

Initially, the Committee had intended to travel to Texas, where Maxwell was being held in a federal prison camp, to conduct her interview. However, Committee Chairman James Comer told Politico that she is rethinking those plans because of Maxwell’s decision not to answer any of the committee’s questions.

“Her lawyers have replied that she’s not going to answer any questions,” Comer told Politico. “She’s only going to plead the Fifth. I mean, I could spend a bunch of taxpayer dollars to send staff and members down there, and if she’s going to plead the Fifth, I don’t know that that’s a good investment.”

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The committee does not plan to grant Maxwell immunity

In the Politico interview, Comer made it clear that the committee will not entertain Maxwell’s request after she said she would only answer questions if she were granted immunity. Not only this, but Maxwell had also asked to be provided with the questions in advance. Her team maintained that she would not answer questions until the appeals in her case were resolved.

In a separate interview with NBC News, Comer said that his panel is still working to depose former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, accusing them of giving Republicans “the runaround.” Cormer noted that he just wants to learn what they know about Epstein and his crimes.

“I’m not accusing them of any wrongdoing. … But Trump has answered a gazillion questions about it, and we’ve never heard from Clinton," he said. It is pertinent to note that Maxwell was already interviewed by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche over two days in July. The Justice Department released a full transcript of that interview the following month.

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In July, the Oversight Committee issued a subpoena to Maxwell seeking her testimony. Both the subpoena and Blanche’s interview came at a time when the Trump administration has been facing unusual scrutiny from its base over its handling of files in the Epstein case.

Earlier this week, the US Congress voted unanimously to compel the Justice Department to release the Epstein files. On Wednesday, Trump signed the bill, called the Epstein Files Transparency Act, into law after previously opposing it.