Ghislaine Maxwell's request for immunity in exchange for testimony DENIED in stunning twist
Maxwell, the longtime partner of deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, is currently serving a 20-year-sentence for sex trafficking and has been in talks with the Trump administration and Congress about dishing on the disgraced financier and his relationships.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer announced last week that Maxwell is set to testify before the panel on August 11 at the Tallahassee facility where she is serving her prison sentence.
He issued her a subpoena for her testimony one day after lawmakers voted to have her reveal more about her case and the crimes committed by Epstein.
However, after Maxwell's lawyer David Markus sent a document with conditions for her testimony, the committee has said they won't accept them.
'The Oversight Committee will respond to Ms. Maxwell's attorney soon, but it will not consider granting congressional immunity for her testimony,' a spokesperson for the panel told the Daily Mail.
The letter from Markus to the committee - which was obtained by the Daily Mail - contains a list of conditions for her to testify, including immunity.
'Public reports—including your own statements—indicate that the committee intends to question Ms. Maxwell in prison and without a grant of immunity. Those are non-starters,' the letter states.
'Ms. Maxwell cannot risk further criminal exposure in a politically charged environment without formal immunity. Nor is a prison setting conducive to eliciting truthful and complete testimony. The potential for leaks from such a setting creates real security risks and undermines the integrity of the process.'
Markus further requests that the committee provide Maxwell with their questions in advance of their sit-down.
He also asked to push their meeting until after Maxwell's pending case before the Supreme Court in which she's alleging wrongful legal treatment and until after a subsequent secondary challenge so that her testimony does not sway those cases.
Maxwell may want to talk, according to a source who told the Daily Mail last week 'she would be more than happy to sit before Congress and tell her story.'
But there were always going to be strings attached to testimony from such a notorious target.
The rush to hear from Epstein's protege comes as some lawmakers have raised concern about her protection.
'I requested that she be placed immediately into protective custody and monitored - by guards as well as working surveillance equipment - around the clock, so that our justice system does not again fail the survivors of this Epstein nightmare,' Republican Rep. Scott Perry posted on X.
Trump's closest allies and rank-and-file members - including House Oversight Chairman James Comer, Anna Paulina Luna, Nancy Mace and Marjorie Taylor Greene - backed the subpoena for Maxwell.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has met multiple times with Maxwell at the behest of Trump to discuss what she knows about the Epstein files.
Blanche offered Maxwell a limited form of immunity during her two days of questioning over former lover and billionaire pedophile Epstein last week.
She apparently requested what's known as 'proffer immunity' so that anything she revealed couldn't be used against her at a later date.
This form of immunity is specifically provided to people under investigation or facing charges to determine the value of a possible witness. Maxwell has already been tried and convicted.
However, Maxwell's lawyer David Oscar Markus said after her questioning: 'There have been no asks and no promises.'
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