US House panel rejects immunity request by Epstein associate Maxwell
FILE PHOTO: Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell stands at the podium to address Judge Alison Nathan during her sentencing in a courtroom sketch in New York City, U.S. June 28, 2022. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg/File Photo
WASHINGTON - A Republican-led congressional committee rejected on Tuesday a request by a longtime associate of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein for immunity from future prosecution as a condition for testifying to the panel in the midst of a political storm surrounding President Donald Trump.
Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in New York in 2021 of helping Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls and is serving a 20-year sentence in Florida, has been subpoenaed to testify privately to the House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
The committee has aimed to conduct a deposition of Maxwell, a British socialite who was the wealthy financier's longtime girlfriend, on August 11 at the prison where she is being held in Tallahassee.
"Ms. Maxwell cannot risk further criminal exposure in a politically charged environment without formal immunity," Maxwell's lawyer David Markus told Representative James Comer, who chairs the House committee, in a letter.
In an emailed statement, a committee spokesperson said: "The Oversight Committee will respond to Ms. Maxwell's attorney soon, but it will not consider granting congressional immunity for her testimony."
Markus also had laid down additional conditions for a deposition, including conducting it somewhere other than the prison and being provided with the committee's questions in advance. Maxwell, Markus added, would testify to the committee in a public setting if she were to be granted clemency.
Maxwell is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn her conviction. Trump has said he was not considering a presidential pardon for Maxwell.
Questions over Trump's past relationship with Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking minors, and his administration's handling of records related to the case have dogged the president for weeks, including during a weekend visit to Scotland.
Trump knew Epstein socially in the 1990s and early 2000s. Trump has said that he cut off ties with Epstein years before Epstein's death. Democrats in Congress and some of Trump's core supporters have demanded the release of documents involving Epstein and Maxwell.
Epstein served a 13-month jail sentence after pleading guilty in 2008 to a Florida state felony prostitution charge.
Democrats on Tuesday sought more information about the matter.
Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse wrote to the Justice Department, asking for a copy of the transcript of a recent conversation a department official had with Maxwell.
In addition, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called on the FBI to conduct a "counterintelligence threat assessment" to determine the risk to U.S. national security if a foreign entity were to gain access to the Epstein files.
"Could our adversaries use that information to blackmail someone like the president or other senior leaders in government?" Schumer asked. REUTERS
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