Congress Seeking Ghislaine Maxwell Testimony After Supreme Court Rejects Epstein Associate’s Case

Topline

The Supreme Court’s decision Monday not to take up Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeal of her conviction could pave the way for her to speak with Congress about late financier Jeffrey Epstein, as the House Oversight Committee confirmed Thursday it’s trying to schedule a deposition with Maxwell, after her lawyer previously claimed she could not testify before the Supreme Court ruled.

Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein attend a party at the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, on February 12, 2000.

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Key Facts

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee sent a letter to the committee’s Republican chair Rep. James Comer, Ky., on Thursday, asking him to “immediately schedule Maxwell’s deposition with the committee” after the Supreme Court ruled Monday not to take up Maxwell’s case, which ended her appeals process and ensured her conviction on sex trafficking charges will stand.

The House Oversight Committee has subpoenaed Maxwell to speak with lawmakers as part of their ongoing investigation into the Epstein case, but her legal team previously claimed she couldn’t testify while the Supreme Court was considering whether it would hear her appeal of her conviction.

The Republican wing of the House Oversight Committee said Thursday that the Democrats’ request was a non-issue, telling Forbes in a statement the committee had already reached out to Maxwell’s attorneys about scheduling a deposition “soon after the Supreme Court denied Ms. Maxwell’s appeal.”

In a July letter, Maxwell’s attorney David Oscar Markus and other lawyers claimed that Maxwell testifying while the Supreme Court considered her case “could compromise her constitutional rights, prejudice her legal claims, and potentially taint a future jury pool.”

The Oversight Committee told Forbes it should have an update “soon” about whether Maxwell will now testify, and Markus has not yet responded to a request for comment on Maxwell’s potential deposition.

What We Don’t Know

When Maxwell could testify to Congress, and what the conditions of any deposition could look like. The House Oversight Committee has so far conducted interviews with Epstein-related witnesses—like former U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta, who negotiated a 2007 non-prosecution agreement with the financier—behind closed doors, though the committee has later released transcripts of the full depositions. It’s likely any interview with Maxwell would be done under the same conditions, rather than broadcast to the public as it’s happening.

What Could Ghislaine Maxwell Tell Congress?

It’s unclear what lawmakers could ask her, but Maxwell has already drawn controversy for testimony she gave to the Justice Department earlier this year, as she broadly exonerated herself and Epstein’s high-profile friends from involvement with his sex trafficking scheme. She alleged she never participated in Epstein’s abuse of underage women and did not know about it, contradicting testimony from numerous victims, and claimed she “never, ever saw any man doing something inappropriate with a woman of any age.” She also specifically said she had not seen President Donald Trump commit any wrongdoing, telling Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche—the president’s former personal attorney— she “never witnessed the President in any inappropriate setting in any way.” Maxwell’s attorney Markus has insisted the British socialite answered questions “honestly” and “truthfully to the best of her ability.” Her testimony has been blasted by victims and their families for trying to “rewrite history,” however, and her comments—and the fact they’re beneficial for Trump—have drawn scrutiny as potentially being used to help secure a pardon from the president. Maxwell was previously charged with perjury, which she denies, for allegedly lying during a 2016 deposition about Epstein’s abuse. The charges were later dropped as part of a broader deal to prevent a second trial on Maxwell’s sex trafficking charges, but Maxwell was never exonerated.

Key Background

Maxwell has been identified as Epstein’s key associate in his sex trafficking operation, as the financier allegedly assaulted more than 100 women before ultimately being indicted in 2019 on sex trafficking charges and later dying in prison. The British socialite helped recruit women to Epstein’s alleged scheme and participated in abusing his victims, according to victim testimony. She was convicted on sex trafficking charges in 2021 related to her work with Epstein and sentenced to 20 years in prison, though she was controversially moved to a minimum-security facility earlier this year following her DOJ testimony. Maxwell and her involvement with Epstein have come under renewed scrutiny in recent months, after the DOJ announced over the summer it did not intend to release any more of its files on Epstein, contradicting previous promises by top DOJ officials. That sparked a public outcry among even the president’s supporters, leading DOJ officials to seek an interview with Maxwell and the House Oversight Committee to issue subpoenas for testimony from Maxwell and others, along with the government’s full Epstein files.