Ghislaine Maxwell pleads Fifth, shuts down questions in House Epstein probe

Ghislaine Maxwell’s testimony by the Home Oversight Committee ended lower than an hour after it started Monday morning, with the late Jeffrey Epstein’s convicted confederate arguing the Fifth Modification.

Maxwell appeared nearly earlier than lawmakers for a closed-door interview within the Home’s bipartisan investigation into the federal authorities’s dealing with of Epstein’s case.

She is at the moment serving a 20-year sentence in a Texas jail.

NEW GHISLAINE MAXWELL MUGSHOT INCLUDED IN DOJ’S LATEST RELEASE OF EPSTEIN FILES

Home Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer led testimony from Ghislaine Maxwell behind closed doorways Monday morning. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg through Getty Photos; Sylvain Gaboury/Patrick McMullan through Getty Photos)

Each Home Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., a member of the committee, mentioned they anticipated Maxwell to argue the Fifth Modification forward of her deliberate sit-down.

The previous British socialite was discovered responsible in December 2021 of complicity in Epstein’s scheme to sexually visitors and exploit feminine minors.

The DOJ mentioned on the time of her sentencing that Maxwell “enticed and groomed minor women to be abused in a number of methods.”

DEMOCRATS SAY CLINTONS’ AGREEMENT TO TESTIFY TO DISTINGUISHED THOUGHTS WILL NOT BRING NEW EPSTEIN ANSWERS

Jeffrey Epstein photographed in New York Metropolis on February 23, 2011. (David McGlynn)

Comer introduced that lawmakers would hear from Maxwell late final month throughout a gathering on retaining the previous president Invoice Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress for refusing to seem earlier than his Epstein investigation.

“We have been making an attempt to get her to make a deposition. Our legal professionals have mentioned she’s going to plead the Fifth, however we have set a date, February 9, for Ghislaine Maxwell to be deposed by this committee,” Comer mentioned on the time.

Contempt proceedings in opposition to the Clintons Nevertheless, got here to a halt after they agreed via their legal professionals to seem in individual on Capitol Hill simply days earlier than the complete Home of Representatives was set to vote on referring the couple to the Division of Justice (DOJ) for felony costs.

Former President Invoice Clinton speaks on stage in the course of the Clinton World Initiative assembly on the New York Hilton Midtown on September 18, 2023 in New York Metropolis. (Noam Galai/Getty Photos for Clinton World Initiative)

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Comer’s crew had been arguing with Maxwell’s lawyer for months to discover a date for her to talk with the fee’s legal professionals.

He agreed to postpone her beforehand scheduled deposition in August after her legal professional requested him to attend till after the Supreme Court docket determined whether or not it might hear her attraction. The Supreme Court docket dismissed Maxwell’s case in October.

She and the Clintons’ statements are a part of the Home Oversight Committee’s monthslong investigation into how the federal government dealt with Epstein’s case.