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Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted associate and former girlfriend of late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, refused to answer questions from the US House Oversight Committee during a deposition on Monday.
However, Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence at a federal prison camp in Texas for sex trafficking, said that if she were pardoned by US President Donald Trump, she would be willing to testify that neither Trump nor former President Bill Clinton had done anything wrong in their connections with Epstein.
In a video released by the committee, Maxwell can be seen being questioned during a video call, during which she pleaded the Fifth Amendment to avoid answering the questions.
Lawmakers are searching for any individuals who could be connected to Epstein and who facilitated the abuse. It is known that in the 1990s and early 2000s both Clinton and Trump, who are mentioned more than 1,000 times in the recently released documents, spent time with Epstein.
Maxwell’s attorney, David Oscar Markus, told the committee in a statement that “Maxwell is prepared to speak fully and honestly if granted clemency by President Trump.”
Markus added that Trump and Clinton “are innocent of any wrongdoing,” but that only “Ms Maxwell alone can explain why, and the public is entitled to that explanation.”
‘No clemency’
Meanwhile, both Republicans and Democrats pushed back against Maxwell’s plea to have her prison sentence ended. New Mexico Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury said, “It’s very clear she’s campaigning for clemency.”
Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna wrote about Maxwell in multiple social media posts, including “No clemency. You comply or face punishment.”
“You deserve justice for what you did, you monster,” Luna said.
Maxwell has been seeking to overturn her conviction, arguing that she was wrongfully convicted.
The Supreme Court rejected her appeal last year, but in December she asked a federal judge in New York to review what her lawyers describe as “substantial new evidence,” claiming her trial was tainted by constitutional violations.
Her attorney referred to that petition when telling lawmakers that Maxwell would invoke her Fifth Amendment rights.
In response, the White House cited previous comments by the US president, implying that a pardon was not on the cards.
Following the recent release of millions of documents in the Epstein case, the British socialite has come under renewed scrutiny as lawmakers try to investigate how the late sex offender abused underage girls as young as 11, according to a lawsuit filed by the government of the US Virgin Islands.
Video editor • Lucy Davalou
Additional sources • AP
