Attorneys for Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell forwarded demands to House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY), stating that they must be met before she would be willing to testify before Congress.
In a letter to Comer on Tuesday, attorneys David Oscar Markus, Leah Saffian, and Melissa Madrigal insisted that Maxwell’s testimony could “compromise her constitutional rights, prejudice her legal claims, and potentially taint a future jury pool.” Politico’s Josh Gerstein obtained the letter.
The attorneys stated that their client would be compelled to invoke her Fifth Amendment rights to remain silent unless her demands were met.
“First, public reports—including your own statements—indicate that the Committee intends to question Ms. Maxwell in prison and without a grant of immunity. Those are non-starters,” the attorneys remarked.
Maxwell, according to the letter, would not answer questions in a prison setting or without immunity or clemency from President Donald Trump. The attorneys also said that the committee must provide questions ahead of time.
“Years after the original events and well beyond the criminal trial, this process cannot become a game of cat-and-mouse. Surprise questioning would be both inappropriate and unproductive,” the letter said.
Additionally, Maxwell would refuse to testify until the U.S. Supreme Court heard her case.
“Of course, in the alternative, if Ms. Maxwell were to receive clemency, she would be willing—and eager—to testify openly and honestly, in public, before Congress in Washington, D.C. She welcomes the opportunity to share the truth and to dispel the many misconceptions and misstatements that have plagued this case from the beginning,” the letter added.
“In any event, Ms. Maxwell should never have been charged in the first place. In 2008, the United States government promised, in writing, that she would not be prosecuted. It broke that promise only after Mr. Epstein died in 2019—at which point Ms. Maxwell became a convenient scapegoat.”
Trump has refused to rule out pardoning Maxwell.