Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, has declined to answer questions from US House lawmakers but indicated she would be willing to testify that US President Donald Trump and former president Bill Clinton did nothing wrong in their ties to Epstein if her prison sentence were ended.
Maxwell made the position known during a closed-door video deposition with the House Oversight Committee, where she invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination while serving a 20-year sentence at a federal prison camp in Texas for sex trafficking.
Lawmakers are intensifying scrutiny into how Epstein, a powerful financier with elite connections, was able to abuse underage girls for years and whether others may have facilitated his crimes.
During the deposition, Maxwell appeared in a prison-issued brown shirt and repeatedly stated she was invoking “my Fifth Amendment right to silence,” according to video later released by the committee.
Her lawyer, David Oscar Markus, told lawmakers that “Maxwell is prepared to speak fully and honestly if granted clemency by President Trump.”
He added that both Trump and Clinton “are innocent of any wrongdoing,” saying “Ms. Maxwell alone can explain why, and the public is entitled to that explanation.”
Democrats strongly criticised the move, describing it as an attempt to bargain her way out of prison.
“It’s very clear she’s campaigning for clemency,” said Representative Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico.
When asked about Maxwell’s request, the White House referred to previous remarks by President Trump indicating that a pardon was not under consideration.
Several Republicans also rejected the idea outright.
“NO CLEMENCY. You comply or face punishment,” Representative Anna Paulina Luna wrote on social media. “You deserve JUSTICE for what you did you monster.”
Investigations so far have confirmed that both Trump and Clinton spent time with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s, but neither has been credibly accused of criminal wrongdoing.
Maxwell is also seeking to overturn her conviction. While the Supreme Court rejected her appeal last year, she has since asked a federal judge to review what her lawyers describe as “substantial new evidence,” claiming her trial was tainted by constitutional violations.
She was transferred from a federal prison in Florida to a low-security prison camp in Texas last summer following two days of interviews with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
