WATCH: Ghislaine Maxwell refused to answer questions about Epstein in House deposition, Comer says
#Ghislaine Maxwell #Jeffrey Epstein #House Oversight Committee #Clemency #Fifth Amendment #James Comer #Sex Trafficking #Congressional Deposition
📌 Key Takeaways
- Ghislaine Maxwell invoked her Fifth Amendment rights to avoid answering questions during a House Oversight Committee deposition.
- Maxwell's legal team suggested she would testify that Donald Trump and Bill Clinton are innocent of wrongdoing in exchange for clemency.
- Democratic lawmakers labeled the move as a brazen attempt to secure a presidential pardon from Donald Trump.
- The House committee is continuing its investigation, with depositions for Bill and Hillary Clinton scheduled for later this month.
📖 Full Retelling
🏷️ Themes
Legal Proceedings, Political Corruption, Sex Trafficking Investigation
📚 Related People & Topics
Pardon
Forgiveness of a crime by the government
A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the jurisdiction. Pardons can be viewed as a tool to overcome m...
Jeffrey Epstein
American financier and child sex offender (1953–2019)
# Jeffrey Edward Epstein **Jeffrey Edward Epstein** (January 20, 1953 – August 10, 2019) was an American financier and convicted sex offender. He is notorious for orchestrating a massive human trafficking ring, procuring at least 1,000 underage girls and young women for sexual exploitation by himse...
Fifth Amendment
Topics referred to by the same term
Fifth Amendment may refer to: Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, part of the Bill of Rights, which protects against the abuse of government authority in legal proceedings Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of India, 1955 amendment relating to time limits on state opinions to the ce...
Ghislaine Maxwell
British child sex trafficker (born 1961)
# Ghislaine Maxwell **Ghislaine Noelle Marion Maxwell** (born 25 December 1961) is a British former socialite and convicted felon. She is known for her association with the financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and her subsequent involvement in a high-profile federal criminal case. ### Legal ...
United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Standing committee of the United States House of Representatives
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is the main investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. The committee's broad jurisdiction and legislative authority make it one of the most influential and powerful panels in the House. Its chair is one of only three in the...
🔗 Entity Intersection Graph
Connections for Pardon:
- 👤 Donald Trump (4 shared articles)
- 🏢 Ministry of justice (2 shared articles)
- 🌐 Contempt of Congress (2 shared articles)
- 👤 Steve Bannon (2 shared articles)
- 🌐 January 6 United States Capitol attack (1 shared articles)
- 👤 Hakeem Jeffries (1 shared articles)
- 👤 Christopher Moynihan (1 shared articles)
- 👤 Jeffrey Epstein (1 shared articles)
- 👤 Fifth Amendment (1 shared articles)
- 👤 Ghislaine Maxwell (1 shared articles)
- 🌐 United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (1 shared articles)
- 🌐 Iowa (1 shared articles)
📄 Original Source Content
By — Stephen Groves, Associated Press Stephen Groves, Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter WATCH: Ghislaine Maxwell refused to answer questions about Epstein in House deposition, Comer says Politics Updated on Feb 9, 2026 1:28 PM EST — Published on Feb 9, 2026 11:02 AM EST WASHINGTON — Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, declined to answer questions from House lawmakers in a deposition Monday, but indicated that if President Donald Trump ended her prison sentence, she was willing to testify that neither he nor former President Bill Clinton had done anything wrong in their relationships with Epstein. Watch the clip in the video player above. The House Oversight Committee had wanted Maxwell to answer questions during a video call to the federal prison camp in Texas where she's serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking, but she invoked her Fifth Amendment rights to avoid answering questions that would be self-incriminating. She's come under new scrutiny as lawmakers try to investigate how Epstein, a well-connected financier, was able to sexually abuse underage girls for years. Amid a reckoning over Epstein's abuse that has spilled into nations around the globe, lawmakers are searching for anyone who was connected to Epstein and may have facilitated his abuse. So far, the revelations have shown how both Trump and Clinton spent time with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s, but they have not been credibly accused of wrongdoing. READ MORE: A timeline of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation and the fight to make the government's files public During the closed-door deposition Monday, an attorney for Maxwell told lawmakers that if Trump granted her clemency, she would be willing to testify that neither Trump nor former President Bill Clinton were culpable for wrongdoing in their relationships with Epstein, according to both Democratic and Republican ...