US Lawmakers Accuses Maxwell Refusal to Testify to Get Pardon from Trump

(MENAFN) Democratic members of the US House Oversight and Government Reform Committee have accused Ghislaine Maxwell—longtime associate and former partner of the late Jeffrey Epstein—of refusing to testify before Congress as part of an attempt to secure a pardon from President Donald Trump.

During a deposition with the committee on Monday, Maxwell declined to respond to any questions, repeatedly citing the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution, which protects individuals from self-incrimination in criminal matters.

Democratic lawmakers said her appearance before the committee was not genuine cooperation but rather a strategic move. One lawmaker, James Walkinshaw, described the situation as "another episode in her long-running campaign for clemency from President Trump."

"President Trump could end that today. He could rule out clemency for Ghislaine Maxwell, the monster; he could rule out a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell,” Walkinshaw said, adding "the question for all of us today is, why hasn't he done that? And why won't he do that?"

Representative Jasmine Crockett said Maxwell’s refusal to engage would not derail the committee’s work, stressing that the investigation would continue.

"We will not be deterred. We will not be distracted. We know who it is that needs to be held accountable," Crockett said, adding, "this will not stop us…Miss Maxwell, we're not done. We're going to continue to go."

Another committee member, Melanie Stansbury, accused US authorities of deliberately blocking accountability. She said: "There are now at least nine or 10 other countries across the world that have opened investigations…and the US government is engaged in an active cover-up of the largest sex trafficking scandal and influence peddling scandal in the history of the United States, and Donald Trump is right at the center of it."

Echoing those claims, Representative Suhas Subramanyam argued that Maxwell’s refusal to testify was itself a message.

"It is very clear that she used this opportunity to not only campaign for clemency…but also to send a direct message…which is that her silence can be bought through clemency," he said.

Maxwell remains a key figure in the criminal case surrounding Epstein. In 2022, a US court found her guilty of multiple offenses, including sex trafficking, and sentenced her to 20 years in prison.

Recently, the US Justice Department made public a vast collection of materials connected to Epstein under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was signed into law by Trump in November. The release includes more than 3 million pages of documents, 2,000 videos, and 180,000 images.

According to reports, the files contain photographs, grand jury records, and investigative documents, though many sections remain heavily redacted.

Epstein was found dead by suicide in a New York City jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges involving underage girls.

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